


Road to Graduation

by Tahnex



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Humor, Romance, School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:39:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23493964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tahnex/pseuds/Tahnex
Summary: Teams RWBY and JNR return to Beacon following Salem's defeat to finally finish their education and graduate. Life however, isn't going to make it exactly the easiest ride in the world as their feelings for each other develop further, blossom, and one or two old foes might just pop up for a bit of revenge...
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 66
Kudos: 175





	1. Returning to School

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, so this is a new RWBY fic. I’m stuck in quarantine with time on my hands, an idea, and decided screw it, let’s write a RWBY fic. A very quick bit of background, this is canon-compliant until after the Volume 7 finale, then it definitely goes its own way.
> 
> Any comments, reviews, critiques etc are all welcome, and anyone who wants to be a beta reader feel free to give me a shout! I haven't got one yet so it's probably going to be a little bit rough around the edges to begin with, but we'll see where we go!

It’s been a month since they fought Salem. A month since Ozpin had taken over Oscar’s body and, with a little help from Ruby’s silver eyes, wounded Salem enough to force her into the Winter Vault, with Penny sealing it, and Salem, away. Tyrian had been recaptured and, whilst in a fury at Salem being sealed, was goading the Ace Ops with how many people he had killed in the fight, and accidentally let slip he’d also killed Clover. Robyn Hill had used her semblance on both Qrow and, under heavy restraints, Tyrian, proving Qrow’s innocence and his release. The CCT towers are slowly being set up again, and a message was sent to Vacuo to make sure they didn’t try to open the Summer Vault, along with a promise to Beacon that the Atlesian Military would send help to rid Vale and Beacon of the Grimm that were plaguing the city and old Academy grounds, including the Wyvern Grimm clinging to Beacon Tower. Once the two kingdoms worked together, and nearly the full might of the Atlesian military was brought to bear, the Grimm surrounding Beacon were forced back and Beacon returned to the way it was two years or so ago.

Following that, a rather awkward conversation took place in Atlas tower, involving the now General Winter Schnee, Team RWBY and JNR, and with Professor Goodwitch on call from Beacon.

“What do you mean our licenses were revoked?!” Yang slammed her hands down on the table.

Winter sighed, “Former General Ironwood revoked your licenses when you declined to support his plan to save Atlas. I’ve…”

“You mean when we refused to let him sacrifice the whole of Mantle and the people in it.” Blake retorted, glaring at Winter.

Winter met Blake’s stare for a beat before continuing, “As I was saying, I’ve tried to reinstate the licenses, as well as issue you new permanent ones, however when he revoked the licenses he blocked all seven of you from being granted a license by anyone with Atlesian authority, including military and the council.”

Ruby turned to the scroll with Professor Goodwitch on, “Professor? Is there anything you can do?”

Professor Goodwitch’s voice came through the scroll, slightly crackly as the CCT system was not back up to its prior strength, “Atlas is the only country who can produce Huntsmen licenses without graduating at an academy. Without returning to an academy, completing your education, and then graduating, we cannot grant you your licenses.”

At this nearly everyone looked crestfallen. “So, despite everything that’s happened, there’s nothing you can do? We helped to defeat Salem! Surely that should count for SOMETHING!” Jaune yelled.

Professor Goodwitch sighed, “I appreciate your frustration Mr Arc, and the whole of Remnant is thankful for your assistance in defeating Salem…”

“Not that they’ll ever know about it” muttered Blake.

“Thank you for your comments Miss Belladonna, but considering the panic you all saw in Mantle and the amount of Grimm it brought, would you really wish that on the rest of Remnant when they learned of an immortal Queen of the Grimm that is trying to destroy humanity?” Professor Goodwitch replied sharply, “Even if she is sealed away, it would still bring panic and Grimm, leading to loss of life.”

Blake looked down embarrassed and Yang glared at the scroll.

“Back to your point Mr Arc, I’ve spoken to the council members in Vale, and informed them that your absence from all of the Academies was approved by Professor Ozpin before his death, and your recent efforts were part of an extended mission, watched over by Qrow Branwen. Fortunately, news of his mistaken arrest, which I WILL be speaking to you about General, did not reach Vale. I have convinced them that due to the success of your highly secret mission, your entire second year, for all of you, was passed.”

“Is that really all you can do?” Ruby said quietly.

“Yes Miss Rose. That is all I can do.” Even to most of the people in the room Professor Goodwitch sounded tired, and possibly even a little sad.

Everyone looked at each other, slightly unsure of what to do or say until Ren spoke up “So what happens now?”

“If you all still wish to graduate and become professional Huntsmen and Huntresses, you are welcome to return to Beacon to complete your training there, starting in your third year. I’ll give you until 5pm tomorrow to decide. Since the disaster of the last Vytal Festival the council is trying to keep a much closer eye on Beacon, so I have to tell them what is happening with you seven at their next meeting tomorrow.”

Ruby looked back to the scroll “And if we refuse?”

“Then you will not become legal Huntsmen and Huntresses.”

There were a few moments of silence before Winter spoke up, “You can go back to your rooms now to discuss this. It’s the best option you have.”

Taking her not so subtle hint to leave, the two teams left the room, but not before hearing Professor Goodwitch turn her attention to Winter, “Now, would you please be so kind as to explain not only why the hell you put out a warrant for Qrow’s arrest, but also why you then followed through with it?” Any further words were cut off by the doors sealing behind them. Ruby and Yang glanced at each other grinning slightly, they’d been on the receiving end of one of Professor Goodwitch’s scolding, more than once for Yang, and knew how bad it could be.

It wasn’t long before they reached their rooms and split into their respective teams.

Ruby and Blake sat on the beds, with Weiss and Yang taking chairs opposite their respective partners, Yang spinning hers round to sit backwards.

“Well Ruby? What do we do?” Blake asked.

Ruby looked to them all in turn, “What do you guys WANT to do? I know I’m the leader of our team, but I don’t want to force you to do something you don’t want to…”

Weiss was the first to reply, “Personally, my vote is to graduate and become a Huntress. My only other option would be to take over the Schnee Dust Company, but I don’t want to do that, in fact I want nothing to do with it. I’m done with Atlas; Ironwood was the last straw.”

Yang looked to Blake before facing Ruby “I don’t know Rubes, to be honest I’m not happy with the whole situation, if they do this to us now, what’s to say something else won’t happen again in the future? I’m not sure about returning to Beacon, but I want us to stay together as a team.”

Blake looked at Yang directly whilst saying “I want to stay as a team, so I’ll follow you guys.” Yang smiled in response.

Ruby looked down at the ground for a moment, “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a Huntress. To help people. If the only way to do that is to go back to Beacon and graduate, then I would do that. But being together as a team is more important. We got split up once before, that’s not happening again.” She looked at the time on her scroll “It’s getting late, we’ll sleep on it and see what we think tomorrow.”

The others nodded their agreement and got ready for bed. Across the hall, JNR was having a similar discussion.

“What happens now Jaune?” Nora looked to her team leader.

“I don’t know Nora, I don’t know.” Jaune sat down on his bed heavily.

“Me and Ren have nowhere else to go, we don’t have a family or home to return to, it’s just us three now. So, we’ll follow you where you go.” Nora looked to Ren for reassurance, slipping her hand into his, and he nodded.

“Thanks you guys,” Jaune smiled at them both, “To be honest, returning to some kind of, I don’t know, normal life would be good you know? Finishing school and actually having something to show for everything we’ve done would be good. Plus, I could kinda do with a bit more training,” he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

“Then back to school we go,” Ren said quietly.

The next day they all met up in Winter’s office. Professor Goodwitch was on call from Beacon again, “Well, have you all come to a decision?”

Ruby and Jaune looked at each other and nodded. The two teams had discussed it over breakfast that morning. “Looks like you’re going to have to put up with our team again Professor,” Ruby smiled.

“And ours.” Jaune chimed in after Ruby.

“Good. Pack your things, you’ll be on the next flight to Vale, it leaves tonight.” Winter nodded at them all.

“Mr Arc? If you, Miss Valkyrie and Mr Ren could all remain for a moment, there is something we need to discuss with you three.” Professor Goodwitch said.

Jaune looked at Ruby and said, “Go on, we’ll catch up to you.” Ruby looked a little confused but nodded and led her team out the door. “Yes Professor? What is it?” Jaune turned back to the scroll.

Team RWBY reached their room and packed their things, Weiss double checking to make sure they’d left nothing behind, before heading to the landing platform, finding someone waiting for them. “Hey kiddo, looks like you’re hitching a ride back to Vale with me.”

“Uncle Qrow!” Ruby sprinted to give Qrow a tight hug. “I was worried about you” Ruby whispered into his coat. Yang came up behind Ruby and gave her uncle a hug as well, whilst Weiss and Blake stood back a little, not sure what they should do.

“I’m alright, just tired of this cold.” Qrow said, looking to the door as it slid open to reveal Winter standing in the doorway.

“Weiss. Come here.”

Weiss breathed out before turning to walk to her older sister. “Yes Winter?”

They walked to one side of the doorway and Winter stood awkwardly for a moment before replying, “I’m glad you decided to continue your education.” They were silent for a moment before she continued “Now that Father is in custody, and will never touch our family again, I will…see what I can do to help Mother,” she motioned to Qrow with her head, “If that alcoholic idiot over there can drag himself to sobriety, I will see what I can do to help Mother achieve the same.”

Weiss almost couldn’t believe what she was about say considering how he had treated her but… ”And Whitley.”

Winter looked a little surprised at Weiss.

“He was always closer to Father than us or Mother. He will need support as well. Especially as he is now the heir and will take over the company.” Weiss swallowed hard, wanting to say the words before she changed her mind.

Winter looked solemn for a moment, “Yes, we all neglected him, and Father took him completely under his influence. I will try to help him as well, but I suspect Klein will be better able to help Whitley than me.”

Weiss smiled at the memory of her friend and former butler and, seeing the members of Team JNR come out into the air said, “This will be goodbye then sister.”

“Yes, it will be.” Winter nodded, before Weiss grabbed her in an impromptu hug. Winter hesitated for a moment before smiling slightly and returning it. “Try to write or call more often too.”

“I will” Weiss smiled at her sister, before turning and walking back to her team.

Qrow looked up at her arrival, nodded curtly to Winter, then turned, slipped his hands in his pockets and walked up the ramp onto the aircraft. Winter sighed, shook her head, then stood to attention as the others waved goodbye and followed Qrow up the ramp and back to Vale.

Ruby lingered slightly before continuing into the aircraft, a little upset Penny hadn’t come to see them off, but the ever-energetic girl had left on a mission from Winter a week ago and wouldn’t return for a few more days. Sitting down with the rest of her team opposite Qrow and JNR she heard Weiss ask Jaune “What did Professor Goodwitch want to speak with you about?”

Jaune looked slightly awkward and Nora a little cross, whilst Ren remained relatively impassive as always. “She said when we arrive, we need to go to her office and speak with her straight away, just the three of us. She didn’t say anything else.” Weiss and Blake suspected something wasn’t being said but decided that the others would tell them in time, and for now, all they wanted to do was sit and rest. Just before closing her eyes to sleep Ruby noticed Qrow leaning back, eyes closed trying to sleep, but with a glimmer of green in his right hand.

After arriving at Beacon, they all wearily climbed out the aircraft, Yang and Ruby giving long hugs to Qrow, before he walked off, raising a hand to say goodbye. The seven climbed up the steps to the main doors, not noticing there was someone standing next to Professor Goodwitch.

“Salutations friends!”


	2. Breakfast and the Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A certain redhead returns, Ruby has a sugary breakfast, and the bunk beds return.

“Penny?! What are you doing here?” Ruby jumped with surprise; weariness completely forgotten. Everyone else, whilst not as quick to forget the tiredness seeping through their bones, was equally surprised.

Penny saluted and grinned from ear to ear, “I’m on a top-secret mission from General Schnee and Professor Goodwitch.”

Everyone turned to look at Professor Goodwitch. She rolled her eyes and glared over her glasses at the seven teenagers before her, “Miss Rose, you and your teammates can return to your previous dorm to reacquaint yourselves. Miss Polendina, Mr Arc, Miss Valkyrie, and Mr Ren can follow me. We have several things to discuss.” Turning on her heel she marched through the doors. Penny smiled, waved at Ruby and then followed her. Team JNR sighed as one, before following after the two polar opposites.

Yang waited for Professor Goodwitch to be completely gone before muttering “Guess she’s in more of a witch mood.” Ruby stared at her, Weiss shook her head, and Blake placed a hand on Yang’s shoulder comfortingly. “Okay, okay, so it wasn’t the best in the world but I’m out of practice.”

“Let’s just go back to our room and get some breakfast.” The four of them started walking to their old room, but at Weiss’ words Ruby looked up eyes wide, “No you cannot have Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes for breakfast, they’re hideously unhealthy.” Ruby’s face fell.

“Please Weiss? I haven’t had them in months!” Ruby begged, looking at Weiss with big silver eyes, her bottom lip sticking out slightly. Walking a couple of steps behind the pair, Blake gave Yang a knowing look and held up two fingers, whilst Yang held up one, the pair of them betting on how long it would take Ruby to convince Weiss to let her the sugary coated cereal for breakfast.

“No, they’re drenched in sugar and the last thing I need is you bouncing off the walls” Weiss’ voice was still quite strong but Ruby sensed weakness and moved closer, bending her knees slightly to put her below Weiss’ eyeline and looked up at her.

“Pretty please? I promise not to eat them again for aaaaaages…” Ruby quivered her bottom lip after she finished talking.

Weiss looked into Ruby’s eyes for a moment, taking in everything about her, before “…F-fine.” She caved into Ruby’s puppy dog eyes, knowing she could never hold out against her partner for long.

“Yay! Thank you Weiss, you’re the best partner ever!” Ruby jumped in the air punching her fist, before hugging the smaller girl next to her.

“G-get off me you dolt! And it’s the last time you get them until at least Christmas!” Weiss tried to scold her partner, but Ruby was too happy to really take notice of her.

Yang grinned at Blake “I win that one, Ruby hasn’t pulled the puppy dog eyes out in a whiiiiiile.” Blake rolled her eyes and smiled as the four of them walked down the hallways and finally arrived back at their old dorm room. They all looked to Ruby and motioned that she should be the first to go through. Smiling, she pushed their door open and found the room, not exactly how they’d left it.

“Where are the bunk beds?!” Ruby cried stopping in the doorway.

“Pretty much the whole school got taken over by Grimm, did you REALLY think everything was going to be exactly the same as it was when we left?” Weiss sighed as she walked around Ruby and leant her case up against one of the beds.

“Awwww” Ruby’s face was crestfallen as she dragged her feet across the floor and sat down heavily on the bed next to Weiss’.

Blake spoke up as she moved her case up against the wall, “We could always make it how it used to be?”

“N-“

“Yes! That’s exactly what we’ll do!” Ruby jumped in before Weiss could object, only for a loud and long gurgle to come from her stomach and Ruby’s cheeks to go pink. “…After breakfast?”

Even Weiss couldn’t keep a straight face once Ruby’s stomach began to growl and the others started chuckling before the four headed down to breakfast in the hall. As it was a week before school was due to start back up again, they were the only four in the hall, and after getting their food and sitting at a table, they glanced around a little sheepishly, feeling out of place in the giant room. Yang was quiet the whole time, and under the table Blake slipped her hand onto Yang’s leg and gave it a quick squeeze, letting her know she was next to her. Yang breathed out slowly and heavily before smiling sadly back at Blake and starting to eat her breakfast, whilst opposite them Weiss and Ruby had noticed the short exchange of glances and smiles but left the two partners to it. Ruby looked down and took the first spoonful of Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes from the bowl and put it in her mouth. Eyes glazing over, she thought there was nothing that would ever taste this sweet, nothing could ever taste so good (other than chocolate chip cookies and milk of course!), but for breakfast? This. Was. Heaven.

Yang burst out laughing as Ruby started to wolf down the cereal as fast as her arms would move, splattering milk all around and Weiss immediately started berating the redhead to be more careful or else she’d choke. Blake smiled and started to chuckle as well, laughing even more when Ruby tried to apologise to Weiss with a mouth full of cereal, nearly causing Yang to fall off her seat she was laughing so hard.

Having finished their breakfast (with Ruby managing to get through three bowls of cereal before Weiss could stop her), the four girls headed back to their dorm, Ruby speeding off ahead of them, leaving petals in her wake. “Bet Goodwitch forgot about that side effect of having us back” Yang chuckled as she strolled leisurely along, arms behind her head, Blake beside her and Weiss slightly in front of the two. Ruby suddenly appeared again, skidding to a halt.

“Comeonyouguys! Whyareyousoslow? Letshurryitup!” The words shot out of her mouth almost too quick to catch before she turned and was gone again.

Weiss sighed heavily. _Why did I give in to that excitable idiot so quickly? This is going to be a disaster. I really need to stop letting her convince me. But she just looked so..._ She shook her head vigorously. _No. Not the time for those thoughts._

“Come on you two, if we don’t hurry up she’ll probably try to make the bunk beds by herself.” Weiss started to jog after Ruby only for the red tornado to come back, barely screech to a stop in front of her, grab her hand and, with hardly a chance for Weiss to say “Ruby, wait...” the pair were both off, a swirling red and white blur around the corner.

Yang looked to Blake and smirked, “Now that those two are gone, shall we actually hurry up or just continue to take a slow walk back?”

“We probably should hurry up, or else Ruby will try to make the bunk beds all on top of one another”

Yang pouted, “Awww no fair, I wanted to take a nice long walk around campus before going back...” She ruined the pout by grinning wildly at the end.

Blake felt something in her stomach flutter, “On your own...or with me?” She asked looking at the floor, not sure why she was so nervous to ask.

“Obviously with you! There’s no one else I’d want to go with,” Yang replied immediately before realising what she’d said, “O-of course that’s if you’d want to do that with me.”

Blake brushed a bit of hair off her face and murmured “Yes. I‘d like that.” She smiled shyly at Yang, trying to keep the butterflies in her stomach from overwhelming her completely. “But we should probably go rescue Weiss from your sister.”

Yang rubbed the back of her head with one hand, not looking Blake in the eye, “Yeah…yeah I guess we should catch them up.” The rest of their walk was mostly silent but neither of them minded, each content to just be in the other’s company.

A couple of doors away from their room they heard a high voice call out “Ruby for the love of Dust, just stop for a minute!” The door was open and there were ropes on the floor next to one bed, a very loose knot attaching one to a single bed post, an exhausted Weiss, and a very hyperactive Ruby bouncing on the spot, clearly unable to stop moving. Weiss turned to Blake and Yang as they walked in and mouthed “Help me...Please.” Blake gave Yang a look who rolled her eyes and went over to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder, causing Ruby to look straight into Yang’s eyes.

“Ruby, why don’t you do as Weiss says and let her take the lead on building the bunk beds ok? She’s your partner so help her out with this?”

Ruby stopped bouncing, nodded, turned to Weiss and rapped out a salute. “Yes, Madam Schnee, what are your orders?” Ruby could only keep her face straight for a second or two before bursting into a massive grin and going back to bouncing on the spot.

Weiss sighed. “Tie the ropes around each bed post first, and make sure they’re as tight as you can make it.”

Ruby saluted again and zipped to the first bed post, redoing the knot again and again until it was as tight as she could make it. Blake and Yang meanwhile wandered over to their beds, stacking some hardback books on top of each bed post before the two of them threw the mattress off Yang’s bed and put the frame on top of the books. After checking it was as secure as they could make it, Yang grabbed her mattress and sheets, put them back on her bed, and sat down next to Blake to watch the carnage unfold on the other side of the room.

After a few minutes of enjoying the sight of Weiss try to wrangle Ruby to either stay still out of the way, or to do what she’d actually asked, Yang and Blake got up and helped their teammates set the bunk beds back up. When they had all finished the beds looked like nothing had changed. Weiss sighed and brushed some stray strands of hair off her forehead, then suddenly realised something, “Wait Blake, where did all those books for your bed come from?”

Blake suddenly looked down and away from them all, “Well...when I...left...Beacon, I didn’t really take any of my luggage back to Menagerie with me, so all my books stayed here. They must have been gathered up by one of the professors and then put back in the room before we arrived earlier.”

Weiss accepted the explanation and decided she needed to clean off after dealing with the hyperactive dolt and putting the bed up, so said to the room in general “I’m getting a shower.” Grabbing her suitcase, she marched to the bathroom and went in.

Yang looked at Blake, shrugged, then climbed onto her bed and pulled her scroll out, flicking to her favourite game, “Now then, how many updates have I missed? What?! 39 gig? Oh boy I have SO much to catch up on...”

Blake sighed a little then curled up on her bed, pulling a book out, discarding the bookmark inside it, and started again from the beginning. The relative calm was only broken by the faint sounds of rushing water from the bathroom, and the soft thumps of a teenager bouncing on the spot. After a minute or so of the soft thumping starting to drill into her brain, Blake looked up to Ruby, “Why don’t you start coming up with some new team exercises or moves we can practise? Other than briefly back in Atlas, we haven’t had much time to just practice as a team together.”

“That is the best idea! I’ll come up with so many awesome new moves!” Ruby immediately grabbed a pencil and some paper from the desk and zoomed up to her bed. Lying on her front she kicked her legs back and forth whilst humming a quick tune to herself as she started to work on new practice sessions and team moves.

Weiss opened the door, dressed in a more casual (for her anyway) white blouse and light blue skirt, savouring the feel of her bare feet on the carpet. She’d wrapped her hair up in a towel to get most of the water out and she padded over to the dressing table in the corner of the room, sat down with one leg resting over the other, placed her scroll on her knee and started to dry her hair with the hairdryer she’d brought with her, knowing that none of the others would have thought to have brought one with them.

Just as she was finishing drying her hair, they all heard a commotion in the corridor. Yang looked to Blake who had got up with a strange expression on her face, almost like she was unsure of what she was hearing. “Blake? What’s up?”

Blake tilted her head slightly to one side, “That’s…interesting.”

“What?” Yang sat up and put her scroll to one side, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

“It seems we’ve got a new neighbour.”

By this point the three girls didn’t need the ears of a Faunus to hear a recognisable pair of voices getting ever closer.

“I’ve never tried that many pancakes before. It was definitely an experience!”

“Well Ren knows the best way to make pancakes, his are always so much better than the school’s, but it isn’t fair to get him to make that many pancakes when we’ve only just got back, plus it’s SO much easier to order them from the school caf, as I can get UNLIMITED maple syrup as well, cos when Ren makes them he only lets me have a small amount of maple syrup for each when the best way to eat pancakes is to smother them in it.”

By this point, the voices had gotten loud enough that Team RWBY had got up and wandered over to the door and stuck their heads out, Ruby climbing on top of Yang to see over her head.

“Penny!” Ruby scrambled over Yang’s head, causing her hair to get ruffled, and if it had been anyone other than her little sister Yang would have blasted them into next week, but it was Ruby…a hyperactive-not-thinking Ruby, so she let it go. But just this once.

The redhead sprinted the few steps to jump at Penny and give her a massive hug. Jaune ducked under Ruby’s swinging legs and kept walking to their dorm room, head slightly bowed and a dark expression on his face. He barely even noticed the others before walking into the room and going straight to the bathroom. The three girls looked at each other, then turned to Nora and Ren for an explanation.

“Professor Goodwitch told us that to graduate we need four people in a team.” Ren answered the questioning looks, “So Penny is now part of our team.”

At this the whole of Team RWBY turned to look at the android, even Ruby who was still swinging from Penny’s neck giggling. “That is absolutely correct! My secret mission from General Schnee and Professor Goodwitch is to gain control of my new powers, and to protect the Fall Vault. My second mission from my father is to learn more about being a human and interact with you more.” Penny beamed as she said it, “So for other students to accept why I am here, and so that they can graduate successfully, I have joined Team JNPR! I will be an excellent teammate and will not let you down.”

She suddenly looked a little downfallen “But I do not fully understand why Jaune is so angry. I thought he wanted to graduate…”

Nora looked slightly awkward, “It’s…it’s complicated Penny, come on. I’ll show you your new room!” Brightening up as she changed the subject Nora skipped to the dorm door and started to take Penny on a tour of the room. Ren shrugged and followed the two girls in.

Ruby sat cross legged on the floor, breathed out, and suddenly dropped her shoulders, yawning massively, “I’m exhausted.”

Yang looked at Weiss, “You let her eat that much cereal, you’re dealing with her comedown.” Lifting her hands up in the air she walked back into the room, Blake following behind her.

Weiss sighed and shook her head “Come on you dolt, get off the floor.” Ruby wasn’t in the mood to move much, if at all, so Weiss ended up having to sling an arm over her shoulders, lift her up and try to convince Ruby to walk the few steps back to their dorm, taking the majority of the weight on her shoulders whilst trying not to blush _too_ much at Ruby being so close.


	3. Return to School Life!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss deals with post-sugar crash Ruby, Penny stops for a chat, and Yang and Blake go for a walk.

Having helped Ruby back to their room Weiss decided that, in the current state of post-sugar rush, which for Ruby was a little similar to a drunk at the end of the night, Ruby was not going to be much help for anything, so rather than struggle to get her into her own bed, Weiss opted for the simpler and easier route. She put Ruby into her bed, and, with only a little coaxing, convinced her to take her boots off and slide under the covers. Ruby smiled wildly as Weiss tucked her in, “You’re the best partner ever Weiss.” The declaration caused Weiss’ cheeks to burn slightly and a faint flutter in her stomach to start.

The feeling was ruined by a certain blonde huntress saying “Wow Weiss, don’t you think getting my sister in your bed whilst she’s on a sugar crash is a little opportunistic? Didn’t think you had it in you Ice Queen.”

Weiss spun around with an ice-cold glare on her face that would have frozen lava “Don’t you dare insinuate that I’d take advantage of Ruby like that!”

Yang immediately raised her hands up in surrender but still smirking, “Whoa! Okay, okay, _chill_ out.”

Blake stood up quickly “Hey Yang, how about that walk around campus you mentioned earlier?” Blake hoped her partner would agree and they could vanish, she didn’t want Weiss pushed too far, after all they hadn’t even been back for an entire day.

Yang slid off her bed, Weiss shooting ice daggers at her the whole time, and sauntered to the door “Sure thing Blake, let’s leave Weiss and Ruby alone here…although I expect my sister to still have her innocence when we get back.” She smirked at Weiss, wagging her finger in a mock scolding, ducking quickly out the door as Weiss grabbed for something to throw at her, Blake in a quick power walk after Yang.

Weiss glared at the door frame for a few moments before getting up and slamming it shut. “Insufferable interfering idiot.” She muttered to herself as she walked back to her desk on one side of the dorm and started arranging some books and paper that she’d brought with her, hoping the organisation would calm her down.

An hour or two later, there was a soft knock at the door. Weiss placed the book she was reading down and got up from her desk to open the door, hearing Ruby stir behind her.

“Penny? What’s wrong?”

Standing in the doorway was the usually energetic redhead, Penny, looking pretty down. “Hello Weiss. Is Ruby there? I would like some advice.”

Weiss turned her head to see Ruby get up from the bed and walk towards them both, rubbing her eyes. “Hey Penny, how...” her sentence was interrupted by a fairly large yawn, “how can I help?”

Penny looked at Weiss who shrugged and stepped aside, letting her enter and closing the door behind him before going back to her desk. “Can I ask you for some advice please? I don’t know what to do.”

“Sure Penny, what’s up?”

“Well, Professor Goodwitch told Jaune, Ren, and Nora that if they wanted to graduate, they need four people in their team. Since Pyrrha isn’t here anymore they need a fourth member, and she said that I should be that person.”

Ruby nodded “Yeah, Ren mentioned it earlier.”

“I think Jaune is not happy about me being part of the team. When I ask my teammates, they don’t explain. I want to be a good team member, so what can I do?”

Ruby sighed, “There’s not really anything you CAN do Penny, they...they lost their previous teammate. It’s going to take some time for them all to get used to it.” Ruby put a hand on her upper arm comfortingly.

“If that is the case, then why is it only Jaune who seems annoyed with me?”

“Because Ren and Nora have each other. They still have their partner.” They both looked at Weiss, who had turned to face them. “Whereas Jaune doesn’t, he has to try and deal with the fact that you’re his new partner and will be for the next two years. I don’t know how I’d react if someone replaced Ruby as my partner...” Weiss shuddered at the thought.

Penny seemed confused, “But I’m not replacing his previous partner, I’m only part of the team so I can fit in easier for my mission from General Schnee and so they can graduate.”

“Nobody is saying you’re replacing Pyrrha Penny, you’re someone different, but it might take Jaune some time to get used to it. Give him a bit of time and space and he’ll be okay.” Ruby smiled at Penny.

“Thank you, Ruby, I knew I could count on you for advice!” Penny hugged Ruby tightly. Letting her go she turned to Weiss, “and thank you too Weiss. I will give him some space and be patient.” Smiling more brightly than when she came in, she left their room.

Yang was still giggling to herself when Blake caught up to her, “Oh the look on her face was priceless! Weiss is SO easy to tease.” Turning to find Blake beside her, “This is going to be so much fun.” 

Blake smiled back, “You need to be careful though, you don’t want Ruby to hear you joking about her ‘innocence’ like that.”

“Oh, it’ll be fine, I’ll just make sure to do it when Ruby isn’t there or listening.”

Blake shook her head and chuckled. Strolling side by side they headed out the main entrance and started to walk around the edge of the building in a long loop. Reaching a part of the gardens that overlooked the city they stopped to sit down and admire the view, the entire city stretched out before them, reaching from the base of the cliff Beacon was built on all the way to the docks on the far side. Yang spoke softly, “It’s been a long time since I last saw Vale, I actually missed it to be honest, especially looking at it from up here. It’s beautiful.” 

Blake smiled at her partner, despite the way she seemed to a lot of people, a flirtatious joker living her best life, she had a romantic, and possibly even artistic, streak hidden that she rarely let out. Blake was fairly certain that she was the only person who knew about it other than maybe Ruby and their dad, and it was something that she loved about the blonde sat next to her.

_Wait, loved about her?_ Blake blinked a couple of times, _Well saying you love something about someone is normal, you can just say that about a friend, can’t you? After all Yang had told her that she loved it when she was feisty, and that had been over two years ago, so it was definitely a normal thing to say about one of your friends._ Blake smiled and leaned towards Yang automatically, closing her eyes, _There are definitely quite a few things I love about her, her endless energy, the way she always keeps an eye on Ruby, ready to help, but makes sure to stay far enough back so that Ruby can handle things on her own, her puns, not that I will EVER tell her, the way she scratches my ears to get my attention, like she is now..._

Blake’s internal thought process was interrupted by the realisation that Yang had been scratching her ears for at least a minute. She jumped slightly and stopped leaning against her partner, cheeks starting to burn up. Yang was grinning “Oh did you want me to stop? I thought you were having a purr-fect time?” If Blake’s cheeks were pink before, they were now a violent shade of red. “Don’t worry kitten, if you’re embarrassed, I’ll take a quick cat-nap and just pretend it was all a dream.” Yang smirked at Blake, winked, and then pretended to fall asleep, snoring loudly.

Blake, despite the heat that was still rising to her cheeks, saw a perfect opportunity for revenge. “I know you’re not really sleeping Yang, that’s not what it sounds like when you snore.”

“Of course, I’m not asleep, that was obviously a fake sno...” halfway through her reply Yang realised what Blake has said, “Wait, what do you mean that’s not what my snoring sounds like? I don’t snore!”

Blake grinned and got up, sauntering away.

“I don’t snore! I do NOT snore.” Yang got up and followed Blake, still protesting.

“Whatever you say Snoring Beauty.” _Oh god, Yang was rubbing off on her_.

“Ok that was a good one, if I snored. Which I don’t. I don’t snore!”

When Yang and Blake returned to the room, Yang winked at Weiss who huffed loudly and turned her back on her, diving into her book.

The next week passed by with the two teams getting used to being back at Beacon and watching out for the new, and old, arrivals at the school. 

The fourth-year students were the first to arrive, and RWBY were happy to see that CFVY had returned. CFVY also passed on a message from Sun that he’d keep an eye on Cardin for them, as apparently team CRDL preferred the laxer attitude of Shade Academy and were transferring for the rest of their training. “No loss there” said Coco, “Means I don’t have to spend my time keeping an eye on him and kicking his ass to Haven and back every time he’s a racist piece of...” Coco cut off as she noticed Velvet giving her a death glare. “What? He is though! Got no sense of fashion either...”

“If I wasn’t blind, I’d roll my eyes.” Fox muttered, “Later.” He shouldered his bag and walked off to the dorm building. Yatsuhashi nodded to each of team RWBY in turn and followed after him.

“Sorry about Fox, he’s not the best on long airship journeys, especially when he’s tired.” Velvet apologised as her and Coco followed their teammates, “I’ll see you later, ok Blake?”

“I’m a little surprised at you Yang, normally you and Coco flirt incessantly. Have you finally started to grow up?” Weiss was looking at Yang and smiling out the corner of her mouth.

“I grew up a long time ago Weiss, that’s why I’m taller than you.” Weiss’ indignant noises were cut off by Yang continuing, “And no, I wouldn’t flirt with Coco at the minute. For one, she normally starts it and she didn’t today, but the main reason is that I have a feeling she has her eye on a certain rabbit Faunus, who may just have an eye on her too...” Yang was staring at Coco and Velvet and how close they were walking.

“I agree with you, the way Velvet kept looking at Coco, and how she smiled at her, I’m fairly certain that if they’re not together already, it won’t be long until they are. I’ll need to ask Velvet about it later.” Blake was also watching the two girls from team CFVY.

The third years arrived next, and they said hi to other friends they recognised, then the second years the following day, before finally the first years arrived. Their initiation was the next day, and the whole academy was in the hall watching overhead views on the screens, little dots moving around the Emerald Forest as they got partners, selected chess pieces, and headed back. Ruby was secretly very glad that if the whole academy was watching that there was no sound, and hopefully it was that way with her initiation too...

Teams were set up, Professor Goodwitch dealing with the announcements, and introducing them to the whole academy. Team FIOR were first, a mix of three Faunus and one human, split evenly between guys and girls, and they were led by one of the male Faunus, Finn Jenkins. Followed by Team BLBD, all human girls, led by Bianca Barossa. Next up were team GAIA, a group of two Faunus and two humans, all girls, led by Garnet Garis. Finally, there was team SEIA, a group of all human guys, led by Saturn Gale.

Normality resumed.

Or so they thought, as on their first morning of the school year officially starting, whilst Weiss was berating Ruby about insisting on wearing her cloak over her uniform, AGAIN, a flyer was slipped under the door. 

Blake noticed it first and picked it up. “Huh. I’d forgotten about that.” The other three turned to look at her, Yang stopped brushing her hair and wandered over. Blake turned the flyer around so the room could see, “The Vytal Tournament is back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing that walk between Blake and Yang was a lot harder than I thought it would be. The version that’s up now is the fourth version, the other three were awful, and I even thought about scrapping the walk bit entirely, but decided to give it one last go, as I needed (and wanted) to put in a bit of flirting Yang and Blake.


	4. Return of the Vytal Tournament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Vytal Festival returns! Not everybody is as happy to see it come back though...

“The Vytal Tournament is back?!” Ruby almost squealed in happiness.

“Well it will have been two years since it last took place, is it in Mistral this time?” Weiss forgot all about Ruby’s cloak and leaned forward to check.

Blake noticed Yang’s face tighten slightly, and she started to say “Yang...”

Weiss however, having seen it was indeed in Mistral, had checked the time on her scroll. “We’re going to be late! We CANNOT be late on our first day back, come on!” She threw the door open and rushed out, Ruby hot on her heels. Yang sighed and followed them.

Blake put the flyer to one side and caught up to Yang. Blake slipped her hand into Yang’s and gave it a quick squeeze, “We’ll talk about it later ok? We don’t have to enter.”

Yang smiled at Blake and squeezed her hand back, before letting go and they hurried up to catch Ruby and Weiss.

Yang looked at Ruby and Weiss, wondering if they were still happy they’d rushed to get to class on time considering that over half had been spent listening to Professor Port regale them about the time he “Single-handedly fought an entire pack of Manticores, seven of the beasts, each trying to take his life!” Even Weiss’ eyes had glazed over, and Yang wasn’t too far behind. Like most of Professor Port’s lessons, his stories never seemed to be close enough to what it was like actually dealing with the real thing, especially as they had dealt with a large pack on the train to Argus. Yang knew she wouldn’t have been able to deal with the whole pack on her own, so added this story to the ever-increasing list of exaggerations by Professor Port. 

Blake spotted a note Yang slid over to her, “ _Maybe if he actually focused more on teaching what they’re like and how to fight them instead of boasting about his imaginary kills we’d actually learn something in his class_ ”

Blake smirked and nodded to Yang; Professor Port’s long tales were punctuated by occasional bits of knowledge that were actually useful. The problem was trying to stay awake whilst listening to the rest...

“...and, as the beast reared its head, red eyes glinting in the Winter sun...” The bell rang, cutting him off mid-stream, and nearly everyone jolted awake and started rummaging to leave. “Ah. Is class over already? Five pages on Manticore tactics and how your team would defeat a pack. On my desk by Friday!” The room seemed to nod as they headed for the door, “I’ll need to shorten the story if I’m to fit it in next class, maybe cut down on the Grimm? No, that won’t work...” Professor Port was muttering to himself as he walked back to his desk, but barely anyone paid his murmurings any notice, and even those who did knew he wouldn’t change his stories, none of them had heard how a single one ended yet, and nobody expected that to change any time soon.

The other lessons were more useful, Dr Oobleck’s history lesson, covered Mountain Glenn, an area team RWBY had visited with him in their first year, in more detail, albeit spoken at a speed only Weiss could make notes on out of the four of them. Professors Peach, Goodwitch, Mulberry, and Greene’s lessons were also much more useful. 

Professor Peach covered various herbs that could be used to help heal small wounds; Professor Goodwitch took them through some sparring exercises and practice fights, instructing them on how to improve; Professor Mulberry covered a brief reintroduction to weapon maintenance and upkeep, focusing on barrels in guns (making sure to let Ruby know he was thrilled she had returned - it was no secret to anyone that Ruby was Professor Mulberry’s favourite student, considering the loving care she gave Crescent Rose); and Professor Greene worked them over with stealth, Blake earning praise from her for being able to creep up on Yang at every time of asking.

“Okay! Lessons are all done, can we now discuss how we’re going to kick serious ass at the Vytal Tournament?” Ruby looked at Weiss for permission, knowing the white-haired girl was the most likely to object to not doing homework straight away.

Potentially surprising to Ruby was that beneath the calm front Weiss showed as she shrugged saying “You’ll only keep getting distracted if we don’t, so yes, fine,” she was actually fired up and ready to enter, and ready to _win._

Yang on the other hand, was the exact opposite, despite saying “Yes, let’s do this!” and putting on an excited front, she was not up for it at all. Yang was feeling very conflicted about competing in the tournament, she could see Ruby was ecstatic about the chance to fight in the tournament again, and whilst Weiss kept up the cool attitude… _ha!_...if her attitude at the last tournament was anything to go by she was almost as excited as Ruby was. Yang however was not excited. She was, although she didn’t want to admit it (even to herself), a bit scared. Last time she’d fought in the tournament some little…well someone had messed with her head and made her see and do something that she would NEVER do. She remembered the looks on the faces of the crowd as they judged her. In their eyes she was a monster. She couldn’t be with their team in the tournament again and put the others through that, she just couldn’t.

Blake’s voice cut through Yang’s thoughts as it always did, “I don’t know about competing this time.”

The reaction from the other three girls was immediate and identical: jaws dropped, eyes wide, words frozen on the ends of their tongues.

“WHAT?!” Weiss nearly screamed at Blake, and Blake’s ears, already slightly low, flattened completely against her hair, and Yang immediately stepped forwards, fists balling slightly.

“Weiss!” Ruby had also not liked her partner’s tone, and turning to see Ruby’s face, with a surprisingly stern look on it, made Weiss immediately feel awkward, and Blake’s defensive pose made it worse.

“I’m sorry for shouting. I overreacted.” Weiss looked at Blake directly, and even Ruby seemed surprised by the quick change. Yang’s surprise must have shown on her face because Weiss looked at her, “What? I’m trying to be better okay?” Blake’s ears rose up at Weiss’ apology, and behind Weiss Ruby beamed with happiness and a little pride. _She was learning and getting better! First it was defending Blake in Argus, now apologising without being told or forced to! Weiss has grown so much since the rude and bossy heiress she had been back when we’d first met, and okay she was still bossy, but still!_ _I am so proud we’re BFFs._

“Why Blake? What’s wrong?” Weiss sounded concerned.

“Well…”

Yang cut her off “It’s for me, isn’t it?”

Blake looked at Yang from the side of her eyes and nodded very slightly, her ears back to being flat again. She knew she might have overstepped, but Yang’s face that morning had been hiding pain. They hadn’t had time during the day to discuss it, but she knew what Yang was thinking, she remembered the looks on the faces in the crowd, Blake knew what it was like to be viewed as a monster. It was horrible.

Yang grabbed Blake in a hug and held her tightly, Blake’s eyes went wide before closing and leaning into the hug, her arms around Yang. Her ears had shot up in surprise but lowered slightly in happiness.

“Thank you.” Yang whispered to Blake before letting go, much too soon for both of them. Blake could still smell Yang’s lavender shampoo, and she blushed slightly from how much she liked the smell, and Yang was doing the same.

“Blake was looking out for me. Because of what happened last time. You all saw how the crowd looked at me. Like I was…like I was a monster.” Yang’s voice cracked at the end, and Ruby immediately grabbed her sister in a tight hug.

“I hadn’t realised! I’m so so SO sorry!”

“It’s okay Rubes, it’s been almost two years since it happened, and we’ve been kinda busy saving the world you know?” Yang ruffled her sister’s hair affectionately.

“That doesn’t matter, I should have realised!” Ruby felt awful and it showed, from the look on her face to the way she held herself.

“Ruby’s right, we should have remembered and noticed. There’s no way we’re competing now.” Weiss shook her head.

Blake chimed in, “I agree, we shouldn’t compete.”

“Guys...” Yang started to talk but Ruby cut her off.

“No, Weiss and Blake are right. I’m your sister and more importantly your team leader, so my decision is final. We are not competing in the tournament this year. I will not force you to try and go out in front of a crowd of people thinking you’re a monster. You’re not! You’re Yang Xiao Long. You’re my sister, my teammate, and I love you. I hate it when you’re hurt, and I will not deliberately hurt you just so we can fight in some stupid tournament. Team RWBY will not compete!” Ruby ended her declaration with crossed arms and a nod of her head.

Yang smiled sadly and almost had to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. Ruby has grown up so much, she was so proud of her little sister. “Ok then Rubes, I can’t argue if you pull the team leader card.”

Ruby smiled back, “Group hug?”

Everyone came together and hugged, it wasn’t something they did very often, but at times like this it felt like the right thing to do.

The moment was ruined by a loud incessant knocking on their door. “Guys! Open up! It’s important!”

They pulled apart and Ruby went to the door and opened it, “What’s up Jaune?”

The tall blonde was at the door, wearing just his hoody and jeans, “Have you seen the news?” Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads, “Put it on someone’s scroll now!”

Yang and Blake exchanged a look out the corner of their eyes, and Weiss agreed with the unspoken words, Jaune was being weird. He was never like this. Blake pulled her scroll out and switched it to the news, turning the volume up loud enough for them to hear, and put it on the bookcase so they could all see it.

“Now rewind five minutes to the start of the segment.”

Blake rewound the live news five minutes and let it play.

“Now over to Lisa Lavender for this special report, and the following report does contain footage some viewers may find disturbing.”

“Thank you, James. Tonight, the return of the Vytal Tournament was announced, over a year after the last one was held in Beacon and ended with a tragic loss of life and terrorist attack on Beacon Academy.”

Blake looked up at Jaune, “Jaune...”

“Keep watching.”

She looked back down to the scroll, it was playing the end of the fight between Pyrrha and Penny, with Lisa Lavender talking over it.

“It was also announced that at least two of the events that marred the previous tournament were the result of terrorist activity.” The scroll showed a picture of Emerald and Mercury. “These two people have been identified as having been associated with the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. As viewers may remember, Mercury Black made it to the semi-finals against Yang Xiao Long, where it appeared that he suffered a terrible injury.” The news footage cut to a recording of the fight towards the end. Blake looked at Yang, who was watching the news with a strained face, and she almost closed the scroll but for a small shake of Yang’s head. “New evidence has come to light which brings a different take on the situation.” The footage was now showing some CCTV footage from the fight between Pyrrha and Penny, with Ruby in a corridor, and Mercury walking. “Despite his apparent injuries in the fight before, Mercury Black can clearly be seen walking, and indeed fighting, in this footage. Something that should be impossible given the injuries he was supposed to have suffered previously. What authorities have released is some previously unknown knowledge that two of the people in that team were working with Roman Torchwick and the White Fang terrorists, and this woman, Emerald Sustrai, has an illusion semblance. This semblance was the key to creating several disturbing images for both the crowd and fighters to manipulate and trick them into committing violent and disturbing acts, all with the goal of causing a massive Grimm attack on Beacon Academy.”

Yang dropped to her knees; she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Despite what people believe they saw at the time, it has come to light that Yang Xiao Long, far from being a perpetrator of a vicious, unwarranted attack, was in fact an innocent victim of the terrorist plot. As can be seen from the CCTV footage shown, the attack had no effect and was likely an illusion on Xiao Long that clearly had no lasting damage on Black, despite how serious the injury looked, and how he acted. It was another step in the terrorist’s plot, with Xiao Long an unknowing victim. Another victim was the late Pyrrha Nikos, manipulated and tricked by illusions to overuse her semblance against Penny Polendina from Atlas Academy, causing the second tragedy, the reveal of the android and loss of Miss Polendina’s life. What makes it even more tragic is that Miss Nikos then went on to lose her life fighting against the terrorists, a true hero to the end.”

“The authorities announced their recent findings at an inquest regarding the Vytal Tournament coming back, and what greater security was in place to stop further tragedies happening. Both Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black are still at large and considered armed and dangerous. They have had Huntsmen and Huntress training at some point, despite no records of graduation, and only having been at Haven Academy in Mistral for one year, with forged papers. The public is advised not to approach at all, and to call the police from a safe distance.”

“Thank you, Lisa, now...” Blake closed her scroll. The room was silent, Jaune had stepped into the room from the doorway and was standing next to Ruby, Yang was still on her knees, silent tears rolling down her face. Innocent. They were telling the truth. What had happened to her was actually being told on the news.

“We thought it best to get back to normal as quickly as possible, and to announce what had actually happened to some degree.” Everyone turned to find Professor Goodwitch standing in the open doorway, a soft look on her face for once. “Not everyone was on board with announcing the full details, and we kept Cinder and her real goal out of the news but thought it might be...helpful to some people to announce Miss Sustrai’s illusion semblance. “

Yang could have hugged her, and the others felt the same way. “Professor...”

“Don’t feel the need to hold back. Professor Ozpin thought you all had something special about you, the events in Atlas clearly back that up, and that includes you Mr Arc,” Jaune’s eyes widened in surprise, “So don’t be held back by events outside of your control and what others may think of you, especially considering the events of the last tournament. Now that’s dealt with, I need to speak with you and your team Mr Arc, concerning the upcoming Vytal Tournament.”

“We’ve already decided not to compete.” Jaune’s statement surprised everyone, but not Professor Goodwitch.

“I thought not. However, I need to explain why your team will be remaining at Beacon for the duration of the tournament.” She turned to team RWBY, “Welcome back to Beacon Academy.” She nodded and then walked across the hall to team JNPR’s room, Jaune following her and closing the door to team RWBY’s dorm behind them.

There was silence in the room for a moment before laughter broke it. Yang was laughing. They looked at her quite confused. “Oh, that is ironic. We literally just finished agreeing NOT to compete, then get given a reason as to why that’s completely wrong and get told by Professor Goodwitch that we actually SHOULD compete.”

Weiss cracked a smile, “That is pretty ironic.”

Ruby looked between them, “So what you’re saying is...”

Yang looked up at Ruby with a grin on her face and stood up, “Oh we’re competing now. I’ve been proven innocent, that bitch Emerald and Mercury have been shown to be evil, so I’m good to compete. And we’re gonna win this thing.”

“Wooo! Go team RWBY!” Ruby jumped in the air and high fived everyone, Yang returned it enthusiastically, Blake with a wry grin on her face, and Weiss reluctantly, but Ruby knew that was just because Weiss didn’t like high fiving. “Can we now make plans on kicking ass?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw somebody say online somewhere that they were surprised that nothing had ever come of how people viewed Yang at the end of the Vytal Tournament last time, so I thought I should bring it in and try to cover it. And yes, the Vytal Tournament is back! Gotta have a tournament arc in there somewhere right? I also got the names for the other teachers and what they teach from After The Fall. Someone also mentioned in a comment they were surprised at Ruby’s reaction to the Vytal Tournament returning. I thought that Ruby’s main issue with it would be that it was hijacked by Cinder and the White Fang – not really an issue anymore as far as they know – and the fact that Penny died, also not an issue.


	5. Qualification is Announced

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team RWBY Finds out the requirements to be chosen to represent Beacon at the Vytal Tournament in Mistral.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the longest chapter I've written so far, but I couldn't find a decent place to end it without it feeling strange or cutting something off, so I just kept writing, hopefully it's still enjoyable though.

It was a couple of days after school had started and Yang pulled Blake aside one evening, Weiss was studying, and Ruby was reading a comic on her bed. “You doing ok?” Yang asked Blake, and she could hear the concern in Yang’s voice.

Blake smiled warmly back, “I’m completely fine. Are you?” Worry crept into her voice at the end.

Yang‘s face mirrored Blake’s warm smile, “Yeah, I’m good, I’m golden,” she winked at the second bit before continuing, “I just noticed you weren’t wearing your bow. Not that it’s a bad thing or I prefer you wearing your bow, I don’t! I like being able to see your ears more and I think it goes better with your hair now it’s shorter, but I wanted to make sure you were doing ok.” Yang’s voice sped up the more she spoke, and she felt nervous and awkward, butterflies flicking around her stomach like they had when Blake had first shown her new haircut off.

Blake’s smile got wider, and she waggled her cat ears on top of her head a little, “I decided that it was time to stop hiding who I was, after everything we’ve faced and everything we’ve done, I’m not going to hide who I am just to fit in more at school.” She laughed, and the sound sent shivers down Yang’s spine, it had always been one of her favourite sounds and that hadn’t changed, “Besides, the professors here don’t care if you’re a Faunus or not, and I know you guys are all completely fine with it too. So, I decided to just be myself, ears and all. But thank you for checking up on me.”

Yang grinned, “I’m your partner, it’s my job.” She nodded and threw a casual salute, still grinning and eyes sparkling. Blake laughed again and they both got on with their normal activities, Blake’s nose in a book and Yang’s on her scroll.

The next couple of weeks passed by without much incident, Ruby mentioned Blake’s missing bow when all four of them were together, and Blake explained it to them as well, and their reaction was similar to Yang’s, happiness at Blake continuing to be herself and not hiding. As for school, their classes were normal, although the amount of schoolwork they had to do was a jolt to their system. They hadn’t had to worry about schoolwork or homework for over a year. There was so much to do to try and retain her top spot in class that Weiss almost regretted agreeing to come back. Almost. 

They also met the new team that had joined their year. Since CRDL had gone to Shade Academy, one of their teams had decided to come over to Beacon. Team STRM were a group of three humans and one Faunus, led by Salvia Karrim, and they were all pretty well experienced from what little team RWBY knew about them, and whilst their grades weren’t close to Weiss’ (a point of pride for her that she didn’t have anyone to struggle against), their combat scores were very nearly top of the class. They clearly valued combat and fighting over the academic side of school.

On a Saturday morning, a little over a month after it was announced, the first bit of information about Vytal Tournament qualification came out. Qualification to represent Beacon would be decided by a miniature tournament at Beacon taking place after the New Year and Winter break, with the top teams being put forward for selection. However, being selected was also contingent on grades. Even if one team won the mini tournament, they would only be selected if they had good enough grades as well, otherwise their spot would go to the fifth placed team, etc. The team needed to have an average grade in each subject of at least 85%. It was explained that by doing this, you couldn’t get through on fighting power and luck in battle alone, you also had to be a knowledgeable student, but by making it based on the team’s average score it meant other members could cover for one another. Blake was happy at this, knowing that Yang, despite her best efforts and willingness, would never get anything higher than 70% in Professor Greene’s stealth class, but her 97% would almost cover her partner, and Weiss and Ruby could hopefully make up the rest.

Team RWBY sat down in the library after finding out this information and made a list of each class and their grades, to work out if anybody needed to work extra hard and improve so they could compete:

In Combat they were all passing with flying colours, Yang the only one doing better than Weiss. Weapon Crafting and Upkeep was also not a worry “Not with Professor Mulberry’s favourite ever student!” Yang grinned with side hug of Ruby, who shrugged it off, slightly embarrassed at the praise. Legends of Remnant was also fine, Ruby’s love of stories when she was a child meaning her and Yang had the majority memorised, so Blake’s lesser knowledge of them, whilst decent at a grade of 82%, meant that they were still well ahead of the 85% mark needed.

Ruby’s time spent helping smaller villages out on her travels to Mistral with the remnants of team JNR meant that her knowledge of Grimm and subsequently Grimm Studies had received a large boost, much to Weiss’s surprise and happiness. Ruby’s previous view, which was something along the lines of “Eh, I’ll kill it when I find it,” had always caused Weiss a great deal of annoyance, so they didn’t need to stress about that grade either. Yang’s Military Strategy grade was below what they all hoped it would be, but Ruby and Weiss’ grades in the high 90s compensated for her.

“We’re looking good here!” Yang was happy so far. Out of the 8 classes they took, they had checked five and were averaging at least 92% in four, and 89% in the fifth.

“We’ve covered the subjects that we’re best at, we still have Stealth and Security, History, and Plant Sciences to go.” Weiss ticked them off on her fingers as she said them. Yang’s face fell, she knew those were her three worst subjects, and judging by a similar expression on Ruby’s face, they were still hers too.

Checking over the remaining three subjects was much less enjoyable. Ruby and Yang both looked sheepish from the scores. Stealth and Security wasn’t too bad, Ruby getting an 82%, but Yang’s 67% brought their score below 85% for the first time. “It’s ok Yang, I’ll work with you to get it up, we only need 2% over the whole team and we’ll be there.” Blake’s words were comforting to Yang for her best subject, but Ruby wasn’t sure Weiss would be quite as comforting when seeing her last two grades for History and Plant Sciences.

She was right. Weiss sighed heavily at seeing the 68% for Ruby’s history and put her head in her hands at the 65% for Plant Sciences. Whilst Yang’s scores were better than Ruby’s, at 74% and 73%, they were still below what was needed, and even Weiss’ high 90s couldn’t salvage the team score in those two subjects, 83% and 81% for each being too low. 

Ruby peeked out the corner of her eyes at Weiss, who had sat up straight, breathed deeply, and settled her eyes on the page of writing in front of her. “Ruby.”

“Yes Weiss?” Ruby squeaked, she didn’t want to look at her partner.

“Until you get your grade up to at least 75% in both History and Plant Sciences, you are going to be spending three nights a week with me in the library studying. You will have a test every week that I will make up and grade myself. Got that? We are NOT missing out on competing in the tournament because your grades are not up to scratch. Do you understand me?” Weiss’ voice was calm and steady, but the other three girls had known her long enough to know that she was simmering with barely suppressed anger.

“Yes Weiss.” Ruby’s voice was quiet as a mouse.

Weiss breathed out. Blake spoke up, “I’ll give Yang some help as well, reduce the pressure on you two.” 

Weiss nodded, “Thank you Blake.”

Ruby’s head suddenly popped up and tilted to the side slightly. _If we’re only studying three evenings a week in the library...then that’s four nights we’re not! Plenty of time to relax...wait, Weiss is not that lax, something’s wrong._

Either her thoughts showed in her face, or, as Weiss liked to think, she knew Ruby well enough to know _exactly_ what was going through her leader’s head. “You’ll also be spending two nights studying for the other subjects. You are not going to goof off and let those drop.” Weiss’ stern tone had returned and this time she was staring directly at Ruby. Ruby nodded meekly. It seemed that when it came to schoolwork Weiss was still the Ice Queen, determined to be the best.

“So, you’re monopolising my cute little sister every night?” Yang reached over and put her arms around Ruby protectively, “I hope you remember that they’re school nights, so don’t keep her up too late. They are meant to be study sessions you know.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“Yang!” Ruby shoved her sister off, her face blushing, “It’s not like that at all, it’s just a study session so we can compete in the tournament. What about you two huh?” She pointed at Yang and Blake, “You haven’t said where you’re holding _your_ study sessions.”

Yang leaned back on her chair, threw finger guns at Ruby and said, “In bed.”

Weiss slapped her forehead, Ruby’s mouth dropped, and Blake grabbed the front leg of Yang’s chair and pulled upward, throwing Yang backwards onto the floor.

“We’ll do the studying in the room, at desks, _not_ in bed.” Blake addressed the last comment at Yang, who was still on the floor giggling to herself.

Yang got back up still chuckling and held her hands up as she sat down, “Alright, alright, I couldn’t resist, that whole thing was too good of an opportunity to miss.”

“Next time, please do.” Weiss said stiffly, her hand still covering her face – she wanted to be sure her blush had gone completely. “I’m going to start working on what Ruby needs to learn, so some privacy would be appreciated thank you.” She pulled her notebook closer and flipped to a new page.

The other three took the hint and left alone, heading out the room. Yang looked at Blake, “Fancy some sparring?” Blake nodded in return and they looked at Ruby.

“I’m good thanks, if Weiss is going to set me tests each week, I’m going to need prizes!” Ruby grinned at her plan.

“Don’t take _all_ the cookies this time ok Ruby?” Ruby laughed and waved off Blake’s comments as her two teammates headed off to one of the numerous sparring rooms. Ruby meanwhile headed off to the dining hall, on a search for cookies. Normally she would have jumped at the chance to spar, but she figured if she had prizes for tests going well, it would help her motivation, and make Weiss less likely to snap at her. Her partner might have improved a lot, but her attitude to schoolwork was clearly still the same.

Unbeknownst to Ruby, Weiss’ thinking was on a similar train of thought. After giving the others a few minutes to leave, she slipped on a shoulder bag with her purse in and left the academy grounds, headed to Vale. Reaching the outskirts, she jumped on a tram, tapping her card against the reader as she climbed on. Ruby had introduced her to the tram system in Vale, and she loved it.

Virtually nobody cared who she was and, unlike a driven car, not many took notice of those who got on or off at the various stops throughout the city. Finding her way through the streets she stopped outside a small store. The sign was shiny and looked quite new, ‘Mr Chip’ standing out with light brown writing on a white background. Weiss pushed the door open, a bell tinkling above her head.

A small man scuttled out from the back of the shop to stand behind the glass counter, various shapes on display. The man wore a dark brown apron over a white checked shirt rolled up and over his elbows, his brown eyes sparkling.

“Ah Miss Schnee! Welcome welcome! It is very good to see you again; I hope you’re very well. Is your excitable partner Miss Rose with you today?” His voice was incredibly soft and warm, sounding genuinely happy to see her.

Weiss smiled warmly back, “Hello again Mr Chip, it is very good to see you too, and to see your shop survived. Ruby isn’t with me today, but there is something you can do for us.” Weiss meant it too, the old man was absolutely fantastic, and a lovely person. Plus, he made the best baked goods in the entirety of Vale.

Mr Chip smiled broadly and leaned forward slightly, putting his hands together, “Anything for my favourite huntresses,” his voice full of charm and sounding like he meant every word.

“Do you offer gift certificates?”

Mr Chip’s eyebrow rose slightly, so Weiss continued, “I’m looking to help give Ruby some…motivation, with certain lessons and studying at the academy, and hopefully she will do as well as I hope, so a reward of some kind would be in order, and naturally there is no better reward for her than one of your magnificent creations.” He inclined his head at her obvious flattery, clearly aware she was buttering him up, but happy to let it continue. “Obviously if Ruby doesn’t do as well as I hope and she’s capable of, I wouldn’t want to ruin one of your fantastic products, so I was wondering if you offered gift certificates so when Ruby achieves what she is capable of, she can come here and pick one herself with no chance of spoiling it.”

“Isn’t that a little…hmm…simplistic for Miss Rose?” His tone was questioning but his eyes were sparkling with laughter.

“Please Mr Chip if I wanted simplistic, I’d go to a normal shop rather than your fine establishment.” Weiss dismissed his concerns.

“I’ll have to think Miss Schnee, see if it’s something I can do.”

“I would be very grate…” Weiss tailed off as Mr Chip pulled a rack of various cards and paper vouchers from behind the counter.

“Which design takes your fancy?” Mr Chip was grinning widely. Weiss gave him a look and he laughed, “I do sincerely appreciate the heartfelt compliments though Miss Schnee.”

Weiss couldn’t stay angry at him for long, another change from Ruby, before meeting her partner she’d have never bothered with the flattery and even if she had, she’d have stormed out in a mixture of embarrassment and anger. This time however she sighed and chuckled, she had meant every bit of flattery, so what if he milked it a little bit?

Walking closer to the counter Weiss ran her eyes over the designs and selected two, a plainer, simple design of brown lines around the edges of a cream card, and a more intricate design of curling lines of vines. She picked six of the first and three of the second. “Could I please get one custom made cookie on each of these, and three customer made cookies on each of these three.” Handing over the simplest design ones first, and then the intricate cards afterwards. Ruby had once told her that Mr Chip’s cookies were the only ones to have ever come close to being as good as her mum’s, and knowing from Yang how much Ruby valued and loved her memory of her mum’s cookies meant that that was _very_ high praise indeed.

“Thank you, Miss Schnee, I’ll get these made up for you.”

Weiss left Mr Chip’s with a promise to return soon so Ruby could spend her vouchers, safely hidden in her shoulder bag. Returning to Beacon she slipped back into their dorm having avoided her teammates and got down to making up a plan for the study sessions.

Yang and Blake found a training room that was empty, flicked the lights on and locked the door using the electronic keypad. That kept the door locked and the room private, however it could be unlocked from the outside in an emergency. Tapping their scrolls on the screen next to it they registered themselves as using the room and two screens popped up at the top showing a bar with their auras on, and an image of each of them next to their respective bars. If they dropped below a certain level a guard would check the cameras to make sure they were ok and, if not, be able to open the door and help. So far that had only been needed once in Beacon Academy’s history, when someone had knocked themselves out with their own weapon. Blake was fairly certain it wasn’t true, as the story became more and more exaggerated each year, but it was a good safety measure to have anyway.

“Usual rules?” Yang looked to Blake who nodded in return, dropping her jacket and weapon in the locker near the door, Yang following suit. The usual rules were three rounds of five points. If Yang got a hit on Blake it was one point, and if Blake could trap both of Yang’s arms or get her on the floor it was one point. No weapons allowed, and no starting until stretches were finished for both parties, otherwise it just wasn’t fair.

With both of them stripped down to a top and bottoms, Yang in a tank top and shorts, and a short sleeve top with close fitting trousers for Blake, they stretched and got ready. They’d started this after the train fight a couple of years back, Yang had been unable to lay a hand on the small fighter with the umbrella and had been frustrated by it. Blake was the best person Yang knew at evasion, so they’d come up with a plan to help Blake practice her evasion and manoeuvrability to get even better, and for Yang to get better at fighting more agile opponents. Making it a competition helped both of them, Yang being naturally competitive, and in their sparring sessions she always brought Blake’s competitiveness to the surface.

Settling into their usual places opposite, they stared at each other’s eyes for a few moments, heart beating loudly in Yang’s ears. She stared into Blake’s amber eyes. _Gods I never get tired of looking into those eyes, by now I thought I’d know every aspect of them, but I keep finding new things each time._

Blake suddenly moved forward, dropping low and swiping her leg at Yang’s, taking advantage of her partner’s distraction. Yang jumped over it, shaking off her thoughts focusing in on the fight. Landing she swung a fist at Blake who flipped backwards in a handstand, the elastic at the bottom of her top stopping it from riding up. Before Blake had righted herself fully, she was on the defensive, slapping a punch away and dodging a few more, backing up until she hit the wall with her back. Yang smirked and threw a final punch, thinking point was secured. Blake moved out the way, spinning Yang with her by her arm, before pushing her against the wall, one hand holding Yang’s wrist against the wall above her head, her other hand had pulled Yang’s hand down and was trapping it against the wall with Blake’s knee. The position they were in meant their faces were inches apart, Yang could feel Blake’s breath against her lips, and she knew Blake could feel hers.

“One-nil” Blake whispered as she pushed away and sauntered back to her starting position. Yang loved these sparring sessions and she knew Blake did as well. If Yang won the first point then Blake got competitive, not wanting to lose, and if Blake won the first point then she got just a _little_ bit cocky. Grinning, Yang moved to face Blake again. Settling into a ready pose she looked at her partner and nodded, the second point starting.

Moving towards Blake, Yang made sure to stay focused this time, no getting lost in those gorgeous amber eyes. She kept her punches short and quick, trying not to give any opportunity for Blake to grab her wrists again. After a few punches had been dodged and grapple attempts from Blake dodged, Yang winked at Blake, who jumped backwards. Yang dashed forward, threw a massive punch, but pulled it at the last moment, continuing her momentum to spin and poke Blake in the stomach.

Whilst Blake had said when they first started not to pull the punches _too_ much, as she did want to raise her own strength and endurance, Yang still pulled them quite a bit, as she didn’t want to actually hurt her partner and was quite cheeky with how she registered the points at times. Blake rolled her eyes, annoyed with how easily she had fallen for that feint. Yang grinned, she hadn’t expected that to work either.

For the next hour they continued sparring, each point taking longer and longer as they both got into their rhythms before tiredness started to set in, and the last point was almost as quick as the first. Yang overextended slightly, Blake sensed an opportunity and stepped forward, ducking a punch before sweeping Yang’s leg sending her falling backwards to the floor. Yang’s back hit the floor; she’d tried grabbing at Blake’s wrists on her way down but had barely missed them. Lying back, she lifted herself up on her elbows and she could see Blake’s eyes were sparkling with delight at her win. Blake bent forward and offered her arm, which Yang grasped, and Blake lifted her up so she was standing. Slowly they stretched and cooled down, both knowing from experience no matter how tired or beat up they were that stretching was absolutely necessary. Yang could see the beads of sweat on Blake’s forehead, and she knew she was sweating heavily too. She ran a hand through her hair, and it felt absolutely terrible. Noticing Yang’s annoyance, Blake grabbed their stuff from the locker and passed it over to her, before they both headed back to the dorm.

They arrived back to find Weiss at her desk making notes in a notebook, clearly still working on Ruby’s study schedule. Their leader was nowhere to be seen though.

“Is it alright if I get a shower first?” Yang usually went in the shower first, as unlike Blake she wasn’t happy to let her hair be sweaty for any more time than was absolutely necessary, whereas Blake was usually patient enough to wait for the tall blonde to finish. Blake nodded and Yang smiled, dropping her stuff on the floor before going into the bathroom and turning the shower on before coming back out whilst it warmed up. Blake had put her stuff down and sorted it, putting them away where they needed to go and grabbed a towel, draping it around her shoulders and sitting on the floor, not wanting to get sweat on her bed.

Yang stretched out again, feeling her muscles protest slightly but she continued, she loved the burn after a workout. Seeing the steam start to come out of the shower Yang turned to the door and pulled her top and bra off, stretching her arms out, just waiting for the protest from Weiss.

“Oh, for Dust’s sake Yang are you still doing that? Just go in the bathroom and get undressed in there already!” The protest from Weiss arrived right on time, with the door to the bathroom, and Yang’s bare back, in sight of where she was sitting.

Yang smirked and said over her shoulder “You don’t need to fight it Weiss, I know you enjoy the view.” She slapped her bum and laughed.

Weiss spluttered in disagreement but by the time she got actual words out, Yang had closed the bathroom door behind her with a kick. “I can’t believe she still does that, what if somebody walks in?” Shaking her head Weiss realised that Blake was still staring at the bathroom door, a red glow visible on her cheeks. Weiss stared for a moment before she shrugged and figured Blake was still tired from the obvious sparring session the two had just finished. 

Ruby grinned as she walked away from the dining hall, her cookie heist had gone perfectly! 12 cookies wrapped up in napkins, and nobody had noticed! Ok so maybe she’d originally gone for 16 and miiiiiight have eaten a couple during the heist itself, but she still had her loot! She was walking back to the dorm when she slowed and stopped before thinking to herself, _If Blake and Yang have gone to spar, they’ll be gone about an hour. I’ve been gone_...she grabbed her scroll whilst balancing the napkin wrapped cookies on one arm... _less than fifteen minutes. If I go back now Weiss is gonna be really annoyed as I’ll just be really bored and trying to find stuff to do. What can I do to not be bored? I don’t wanna go to the library and study, that’s boring, it’ll be difficult to practice or workout with these cookies, what to do?...I could go to the workshop maybe...yeah, I can go to the workshop, I’ve got that idea I had ages back about a different firing action for Crescent Rose to help with medium range..._

She headed off to the Beacon Academy weapons workshops, head filling up with her idea. Getting there, she found it was mostly empty apart from a couple of fourth year students she didn’t know, so setting a workstation up in the far corner away from them, she put her loot to one side and brought a screen up. She logged into Professor Mulberry’s class, selecting “Personal Projects”, and brought up a list of notes, scrolling through them until she found the one she wanted. She expanded it and started tapping at the screen, reminding herself of the details she’d made previously and adding further notes to it, before getting up and heading to the section with the spare parts and then the tools.

Humming to herself as she finished welding the final piece onto her prototype, she put the torch down onto the bench. And jumped out of her skin as a hand touched her shoulder. “AAAAGH!” Ruby looked at the owner of the hand, “Weiss! Don’t scare me like that!” Her partner was standing next to her, head slightly tilted. Calming down now she realised it was only Weiss, but still breathing heavily and gripping her chest, she asked “What’s up?”

Weiss looked at her partner, hair a mess (more so than usual), face mask lifted up, gloves and a heavy-duty apron over her clothes. She smiled slightly, despite how much she had had to badger and cajole Ruby with studying in their first year, and that she knew she’d have to do this year as well, she’d never once had to badger her about Professor Mulberry’s class, and knew she never would. Ruby loved spending time tinkering with weapons, making small prototypes for additional options or different styles, and whilst she rarely ever actually added them to Crescent Rose, she still went further than any student in the class, probably in every year. Most people left it at the drawing board, a few made prototypes, but most had, in their eyes at least, perfected their weapons before coming to Beacon. Ruby was one of the few who was always trying to improve hers, despite the fact that Weiss didn’t actually think Crescent Rose could be improved much more, it just fitted Ruby and her style. The fact that none of Ruby’s countless ideas made it any further than prototype stage told her that Ruby agreed. The downside to Ruby being such a weapons nut, was that when she went to the workshop, she lost all sense of time.

“We were wondering if you wanted to get some dinner with us?” Ruby blinked at Weiss’ request, _Dinner? But it’s barely even lunchti...oh._ Rubyspotted the time in the corner of her screen. She’d been here five hours.

“I did it again, didn’t I?” Ruby’s voice came out soft and almost a little upset. She’d discovered that she lost track of time when she was working on something and the first few times it happened in their first year it had frightened the others in her team half to death, as she’d vanished for almost 12 hours each time, not leaving until the workshops closed at 10pm. When she saw how worried the rest of her team were, she had felt awful. Yang had joked about it, saying she knew Ruby was alright, but even Ruby could see that she’d worried the three of them each time it happened. She tried to keep track of time or let them know when she was going to be working in the workshop, but the majority of the time it was just when she had an idea, rather than any planned time, so it was usually random, and she often forgot to let them know.

Weiss smiled at Ruby, “It’s ok, when you weren’t back after two hours, I checked Professor Mulberry’s class and saw you were signed in, so we weren’t worried.” 

Ruby blinked in surprise, “Huh?”

Weiss suddenly realised she hadn’t mentioned it to Ruby, “Well, when we came back, I remembered your habit of spending so much time in here, so I spoke with Professor Mulberry and asked if he could set up an option on his system so that teammates could see if any of their team was logged into a workstation, and he agreed,” Ruby still looked a little confused so Weiss continued, “So, if any of us login, we can see when the others last logged in. This way we can check if you’re in here and make sure you’re ok and eat something. You skipped lunch, didn’t you?”

Ruby opened her mouth to answer but her stomach decided it was the perfect time to gurgle. Loudly. Looking at Weiss they both started giggling. “You dolt, come on, I’ll help you put this lot away and then come get some food.”


	6. A Welcome Break

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> RWBY, Jaune, and Penny have a relaxing afternoon.

Yang and Ruby were coming back from a late breakfast, although “Closer to an early lunch” is how Weiss had described it. They were just opening their door when team JNPR’s door opposite flew open and Jaune and Penny were shoved out into the corridor by a very insistent Nora. “Just come back at dinner time alright? I want some time for me and Ren to be ALONE. We haven’t had any time since Atlas three months ago, so I’m kicking you both out for the entire afternoon. Oh, hi guys!” She waved to Ruby and Yang who waved back weakly, very confused by the whole situation. Nora grinned and slammed the door shut in a very final way.

Penny looked confused as well, “Can someone explain to me what just happened?”

Jaune sighed, “Well Penny, Nora and Ren are...well...” he gave up, “it’s complicated.”

Yang grinned and threw an arm around Penny’s shoulders, “Let me explain my dear innocent Penny. You see, when a boy and a girl love each other...”

“Yang Xiao Long you are NOT to corrupt her brain with nonsense.” Weiss’ was standing in the doorway, having clearly heard the commotion and got up wondering what was happening, her arms crossed, and one eyebrow raised at Yang, a stern look on her face. Blake had leant round and was also looking at Yang, just less sternly.

“...they like to spend lots of time together on their own and stuff. Happy Ice Queen?” Yang pouted and crossed her arms, whilst Weiss smiled thinly in response, and Blake held back a giggle at Yang’s obvious annoyance.

Spotting an opportunity, Ruby piped up “Hey Jaune and Penny, seeing as Nora’s banned you both for the rest of the day, you could play Super Grimm Fight Ultimate with me and Yang if you want?”

Yang’s face lit up, “Yeah, that would be awesome! Blake doesn’t like playing it and Weiss doesn’t like that she’s terrible at it.”

“Hey!”

“Sorry Weiss, but you always get in a bad mood when you lose...” Ruby’s voice trailed off as she started agreeing with Yang and then faced Weiss’s icy stare.

“No, I don’t like that Yang always picks the easiest character to play as and cheats to win.”

“I do not cheat! It’s just a good strategy to use a Nevermore and the feathers to keep everyone at bay!” Yang put a hand to her mouth and leaned back, acting appalled at the very suggestion of cheating.

“Fine it’s not cheating, but it’s still bad sportsmanship.” Weiss narrowed her eyes at Yang, hands on hips.

“Good thing I’m a sportswoman then not a man,” Yang winked at Weiss, who threw her hands up in the air and walked off. Blake sat back in her bed cross legged and hid a grin behind her book. “Well you two, whaddya say? Fancy taking on the undisputed champion of Grimm Fight Ultimate?” Yang grinned, flexing her bicep at Jaune and Penny.

“Eh, what the heck. Better than walking round campus bored all day. Penny?” Jaune shrugged and turned his head to his partner.

“I am up for the challenge!” Penny smiled widely and nodded her head. The four of them went in and sat on the floor, making a semi-circle with Yang near Blake’s bed, Ruby by Weiss’, and with Jaune and Penny in the middle of the two. Yang was lounging, one leg stretched out in front of her, the other knee lifted up slightly. Jaune was in a similar position but both legs stretched out, whilst Penny and Ruby were both sat cross legged. Yang loaded the game up on the holo screen and directed everyone to set up their scrolls to connect and be a controller. The screen filled with the character select options, showing a dozen various Grimm. Yang immediately selected the Nevermore, and Ruby a Beowolf. Jaune flicked around before settling on an Ursa, whilst Penny hovered over a few before selecting a Lancer. Once everyone had confirmed their selections, the screen switched to show various wilderness stages and a couple of ruins.

The first match kicked off with Yang immediately taking to the air and using various moves to keep the others at bay. Ruby groaned and decided to focus on taking out Jaune, whilst Penny’s Lancer...well…Ruby was a little confused by the Lancer. It flicked in each direction and used a couple of basic moves and one or two specials, but each in turn. Almost as if...nah Penny must have played before. The Lancer suddenly sped towards the Nevermore only to be immediately taken down, Yang swooping above the Lancer and charging down, slamming Penny into the ground. Ruby disengaged from Jaune and dashed to Yang’s Nevermore to attack, but only got a couple of swipes off before Yang took flight again.

“That Nevermore is really overpowered.” Yang’s head twitched slightly, turning enough to see Blake switch positions so she was at the foot of her bed and could watch the screen, making her closer to Yang. Yang looked back at the screen in time to see Ruby’s Beowolf use a special and shoot up to grapple the Nevermore in the air, Jaune’s Ursa dazed on the ground. Yang grunted under her breath, she’d been distracted by Blake, and so hadn’t noticed Ruby get close enough to strike. Ruby whooped as she landed and rushed over to finish Jaune off.

Ruby was still whooping as the screen flashed Round Two up, and the second round began. Ruby squealed and panicked as the second round started. Whilst Yang won the second round easily, having decided to not get distracted by her partner, and the third round went a similar way, giving Yang the first proper win.

Ruby looked to Penny, having noticed quite an intense look of concentration on her face during the second and third rounds. “Penny...?”

“Yes Ruby?” Penny turned to her, her eyes wide and innocent.

“Have you played this game before?” The others turned to look at Penny too, who quickly averted her eyes from Ruby’s.

“Of course I have!“ She smiled widely. Then hiccupped.

Jaune raised his eyebrows, clearly he also knew about Penny’s particular tic when lying, “Have you actually played ANY video games before Penny?”

Penny managed to fake a shocked gasp really well, “Of course I have! I’m just being deliberately bad as it would not be as fun for you all if I was as good as I could be, as being an Android gives me an unfair advantage...hic.” The last hiccup slipped out behind her mouth before Penny could stop it.

Even Weiss turned around at that, “You’ve never played any video games?”

“Erm. Yes. I have. Hic.” Penny looked around, nervously.

Yang threw her arms around Penny, “You poor girl! We‘ll have to fix that for you.” She buried her head in Penny’s hair. “Whoa! Your hair is super soft!” She leaned back looking really surprised.

Penny reached up to her hair and brushed it slightly, “My father updated it a while back so that it looks and feels like real hair, I do prefer it like this, but washing it can be interesting at times, I have to be careful not to spend too long in a shower.”

“Back to the important topic though, it’s ok if you’ve never played a video game before.” Ruby smiled softly at Penny, who finally relented.

“I...just never really had time. I always had something to be doing, whether that was in Mantle for my father, or in Atlas for General Ironwood.” She looked a little awkward explaining it.

“Don’t worry, like Yang said, we can help out with that, and we can start now.” Jaune smiled at Penny, who beamed in response. Ruby smiled to herself, after her team Penny was her best friend, and whilst she knew Jaune would never _deliberately_ be horrible to her, she had worried that he would take much longer to warm up and treat Penny like a friend.

The rest of the afternoon was spent playing various rounds of Super Grimm Fight Ultimate, an X-Ray and Vav game that Jaune had, as well as various other games Yang or Ruby had downloaded at some point. Weiss and Blake even joined in at various points, Weiss insisting that she would join into a multiplayer game only if she didn’t have to fight against Yang, as Yang always knew how to do the best in every game where they had to go against one another.

“I reckon that’s given the two lovebirds enough time alone by now, and I’ll be honest, I am genuinely surprised we didn’t hear anything.” Yang grinned and winked at Blake, who slapped Yang on the shoulder.

“I don’t fully understand, why would we hear anything from the room? We’re across the hall.” Penny’s head tilted slightly, looking confused again.

Weiss shot daggers at Yang again, whilst Ruby and Jaune looked uncomfortable, and Blake rolled her eyes. Yang suddenly remembered the previous conversation at the beginning of the afternoon. “Erm, well...You know how loud Nora gets when she’s happy or excited. So, she’d probably be very happy at spending so much time with Ren!” She finished with a grin; happy she’d managed to avoid the topic whilst still making sure the others knew _exactly_ what she meant.

“Oh. That makes sense. I thought you meant they would be doing some kind of sexual activity.” Penny deadpanned her response.

The others gasped in shock and Weiss nearly spat water all over the wall having just taken a swig of her drink. 

“Wait, what?!” Weiss was clearly the most shocked of all. Yang, meanwhile, once she had got over the shock, fell over cackling with laughter.

“Of course you understand stuff. Why wouldn’t you?” Yang managed to squeeze out between laughs.

“I understand that sort of stuff, my father had a talk with me before I left! I was mostly confused because I thought Ren was not interested in it.” Penny’s reply made everyone look up in surprise.

“What do you mean? It’s kinda obvious him and Nora are together,” Jaune’s brow creased in confusion.

“Oh, I know they’re together, but I thought Ren wasn’t interested in sexual activities?” Penny looked at Jaune directly, “Did I read the situation wrong?”

“Erm. I don’t really know. I mean I’ve seen them hold hands and give each other kisses, but...“ Jaune leant back on his hands thinking, trying to run through memories in his head, trying to think of a time he’d either walked in on them doing something or about to, hands where they shouldn’t be, and realised the most he’d seen them do, or even attempt to do, was give each other a kiss. “I dunno. Not really my place to talk about it with them really, it’s their relationship.” The others all shrugged and agreed. “Wait why were you confused Nora shoved us out earlier?”

“That was because she didn’t say anything other than when she pushed us out,” Penny explained, “if she had said why she wanted us out earlier, then I would have left voluntarily.”

Jaune nodded in agreement. 

“Oh yeah, why did Goodwitch want to talk to you the other day? You never did get a chance to explain to us.” Yang asked, changing the subject.

“Professor Goodwitch wanted to let us know about our mission for this year. We are on bodyguard duty!” Penny smiled broadly and nodded.

“Bodyguard duty? For who?” Blake sounded wary, there wasn’t many people she could think of that needed a bodyguard.

“For Oscar of course. He’s coming to Beacon in the spring.” 

Ruby’s jaw dropped so far it nearly hit the floor, “He’s coming here?! Has he woken up then?”

“No, he’s still asleep, but there’s not much more Atlas can do for him apparently. So, Professor Goodwitch suggested he transfer here to stay in the medical bay, as Beacon will be able to keep him alive and under observation until he does wake up. Plus, we will be here to protect him!”

Ruby leant back against her bed thinking back to their fight against Salem and shuddered. It had been horrific and absolutely nightmare worthy. They’d all been beaten down and had barely any energy left, when Ozpin took over Oscar completely, had a _very_ awkward conversation with Salem that everyone wished they had not been there to hear, even after seeing the visions from Jinn. Then Ozpin had got Ruby to use her silver eyes as strongly as she could, which she did. The effort had knocked her out because the next thing she knew she was waking up in Atlas’ medical wing, everyone around her, her team nearly crying with happiness. She’d been unconscious for five days, even longer than after Beacon had fallen.

She found out what happened after she’d fallen unconscious, and she’d been amazed. Ozpin had managed to harness the energy of her eyes, amplify it, and throw Salem into the Winter vault, then helped Penny shut the doors, sealing her in. He’d dropped to his knees, managed to say “Never. Open. Any. Vault. Again.” Before he’d passed out as well. Unlike Ruby however, he hadn’t woken up. One of the first things Winter had done when communication was restored was to send a message to the headmaster of Shade explaining what she could of the situation. Fortunately, they agreed to keep the vault closed. At least until the whole situation, and how Winter knew about it, could be discussed in person. 

Atlas doctors managed to find out that Ozpin had expanded nearly Oscar’s entire aura, and then even more aura from somewhere else, which they didn’t really explain (Blake said that was because they didn’t understand it and just didn’t want to admit it), and his body hadn’t been able to take it so he just shut down. He was still alive, but whether he would wake up again was a different matter. And what state he’d be in if he woke up would also be unknown. 

If he woke up.

“When is he coming here?” Ruby brought herself back to the present as Weiss asked the question.

“They’re going to keep working on him and trying different things for the next couple of months, but it’ll probably be sometime in early Spring. Professor Goodwitch says it won’t affect our classes at all, we’ll be a little restricted on what missions we choose to do, and that during the Summer and Winter breaks until we graduate, we won’t be able to go home, which is fine for our team anyway.” Jaune replied shrugging, clearly not too fussed about the whole situation, “That’s why we can’t go to the Vytal Festival in Mistral next year. We’ve got to stay here to keep an eye on him.”

“So instead of full professional Huntsmen and Huntresses, Goodwitch has put you four in charge of his protection?” Blake seemed surprised, “Not putting you down, but still…”

“Yeah, I get that, we were just as surprised as you, but Professor Goodwitch said we were pretty much full Huntsmen anyway, we’re only back at the school to officially graduate, plus there’s Penny who is technically a part of Atlas Military, is the former Protector of Mantle, _and_ she’s one of the Maidens. Kinda made a lot more sense when she put it like that.” Jaune looked a little bit sheepish, “She also said she’s got plans for you four later, which is why she didn’t ask you to do it as well but didn’t say anything else.”

The others agreed that it did make sense (although privately they were wondering what those plans were) and, with Yang and Ruby swapped out for Blake and Weiss, who were both worse than the two sisters, they decided to play another couple of rounds on the game, to see if Penny had improved much, and then head down for some dinner. As it turned out, Penny _had_ improved. Whilst she was still the first one to lose each round, she actually got a few hits in before she did lose, which everyone cheered at, making her beam with happiness. 

When they headed down to the hall to get some food, they found Ren and Nora already halfway through their food, Nora chatting away at high speed, Ren listening and occasionally adding something. They all grabbed food and went to sit next to the pair, Nora looking up as they arrived and waving madly. Taking it as approval to go near them again, the group sat down and started eating. Penny had brought over a very small plate of food, and they’d learnt early on that she could eat, but preferred not to. Whilst it was possible to use food as energy for her, it usually used up more energy than she gained, and it only worked on certain foods, but she had explained that it was important to her to fit in with the others, so she usually ate a small plate of food with her team.

“So, what did you guys get up to?” Nora had switched away from her previous topic.

Penny’s face grew into a massive smile “I learnt how to play video games. It was immensely enjoyable!” Nora was clearly happy at that response and gave Penny a massive hug. Ruby had noticed that the excitable ginger girl with more strength than most had taken the excitable ginger girl with _much_ more strength than most under her wing, showing her various things, praising, and helping her out where she could. It had clearly made Penny feel much more comfortable as whilst she nearly always tried to appear happy, she definitely hadn’t been happy when she’d come to her for advice over a month ago. Jaune had clearly warmed up to her more and was feeling better about the situation on the surface at least, Nora was genuinely happy to have Penny around, and Ren...well most people struggled to know what Ren was thinking so who knows, but he’d never actually said anything mean about her. Although Ruby didn’t think she’d ever heard him be mean about _anyone,_ so she wasn’t sure, but he went along with Nora on most things, so he was probably alright with Penny if nothing else.

Whilst Penny explained to Nora about the games she’d played, and Nora gave her some ‘tips’, although Yang discounted over half of them as either cheats or things that just straight up didn’t work, the others ate their dinner. Right up until Penny asked, “So what did you and Ren get up to?”

Everyone other than Nora and Ren looked at each other out the corner of their eyes, waiting to hear the response.

Nora didn’t even blink, “We went Grimm hunting and took down a dozen Beringels all on our own!”

“I read a book and Nora laid next to me listening to music.” Ren’s deadpan response was the one they believed, even Penny had come to realise after a month that anytime Nora said she did something, and Ren said it was something else entirely, Ren was the one to believe.

“Aww that’s adorable!” Weiss raised an eyebrow at Yang’s outburst, “What? It is. It’s really nice to just spend time with your other half doing absolutely nothing, just enjoying each other’s presence...” Her voice got a little quieter to the end and trailed off a little.

“It’s not that I disagree, I just didn’t realise you had such a romantic inclination.” Weiss was being honest, whilst she knew Yang had a much more complicated character than it first appeared to most people, she hadn’t realised Yang had a romantic streak.

“Thank you, Yang.” Ren nodded at her.

Nobody mentioned Penny’s assertion earlier that Ren wasn’t interested in sexual activities, although upon hearing that the two of them had just relaxed together, they all now seemed to agree with it, and they made small talk as they finished dinner and headed back to their rooms.

Later that week team RWBY walked into combat class with the rest of their year and noticed that there were quite a lot of younger students sat in the seats in the auditorium section. That...was interesting. And unexpected. From the looks on everyone else’s face they weren’t expecting it either. Once everyone had lined up in front of Professor Goodwitch, she started the lesson.

“Today is going to be solely based around one on one fights against each other. The time limit is five minutes per fight and highest aura wins, or below 20% aura, whichever happens first. Weapons and semblances are allowed; however, it goes without saying that you are to control them both properly and NOT go for any seriously damaging moves.” As usual she skipped any pleasantries and got down to business, “I will decide who the fighters will be. And yes, these fights _will_ be marked.” She paused to let it all sink in before continuing, “As some of you have no doubt noticed, the students you see sat to your right are some of our first years. They will be observing one of your combat lessons each week until the Beacon tournament starts in the Spring. This is to give them an advantage over you, as you have all had two years more combat experience than they have. The second years will have the same arrangement with the fourth years.”

She ran her eyes over each of the third-year students in turn. “What they will not have access to, but you will, is the video recordings for each of your fights in these observed sessions.” _Everyone_ noticed that statement, usually it was just the fourth years who were allowed access to fight recordings outside of sparring and the practice they had set up themselves, as anyone who had done sparring could access their own recordings. However, sparring was never allowed with weapons unless a teacher was present, which was rare, so getting videos of fights where they could actually use their weapons was worth the first years getting knowledge on them. “This, coupled with your extra combat experience, will help level the playing field for all. Now, Blake Belladonna and Lie Ren, you will be the first two to fight.”

Blake nodded to her team, Yang put her hand on her shoulder briefly, and they walked off to sit in the lower rows of the seats on the left, opposite the first years. Jaune did the same to Ren, Nora squeezed his hand before skipping off, and Penny smiled and said, “Best of luck Ren!” Before following her team. Ren walked to face Blake and blinked slowly, calming his nerves and breathing, holding his weapon Stormflower in each hand. Opposite him Blake also split her weapon in two, slipped the scabbard on her back first, and set the rest of Gambol Shroud into the pistol mode.

“Start!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came about because I had the idea that Penny was absolutely terrible at video games, because she'd never played one before. I also wanted to explain why Oscar hasn't shown up yet, as well as a rough indication of when he will. The hint about Goodwitch having something planned for team RWBY will come into effect in a couple of chapters.


	7. Study Sessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss and Ruby have their last study session before the Winter break, and Yang and Blake do the same.

Weiss kept glancing over the book she was reading to look at her partner, Ruby’s tongue slightly sticking out as she focused on writing down an answer. She’d been making decent progress so far, nothing major, but she had consistently been improving with each subject that Weiss had worked with her on. History was still her biggest downfall though. Plant sciences had been steady progress, small steps, but progress, nonetheless. Weiss had set Ruby a target for this last week, if she could get above 70% in the two mini tests Weiss gave her, then she’d get a prize. Weiss had been deliberately vague as to what the prize would be, but said it was definitely something that Ruby would like. She’d managed 71% in the Plant Sciences test and if she did well in the History one tonight then Weiss had the two gift certificates for Mr Chip in her bag ready and waiting. She was really hoping Ruby got above the 70% mark, as Ruby had been really committed to working hard.

The first study session they had together Weiss had been prepared for Ruby to get distracted and not really pay attention, but she’d sat down, pen and notebook ready, and actually _listened_. Weiss had been really shocked at how much of a good student Ruby could be, whilst she knew Ruby wasn’t an idiot and definitely had a good brain in there, her skills in Professor Mulberry’s class were testament of that alone, never mind Professor Port’s Military Strategy lessons where Ruby also excelled. Outside of those she’d remembered Ruby being a jokey student, not paying attention to the classes that bored her and not taking notice of much outside of combat and weapons, and it had infuriated her when they’d first been put in a team. But over a year, and a war against an immortal Queen of the Grimm, later, Ruby had clearly…well Weiss couldn’t say she’d matured, not with her tendency to still act like a child over some of the silliest things, but her attitude to schoolwork had definitely matured. She no longer joked around in class…well not as much as she used to, but in the study sessions she had really tried hard and pushed herself, making notes on anything and everything Weiss told her, using highlighters to mark the most important details. When the first one ended Weiss had, surprising even herself, been really proud of her leader.

Weiss hadn’t been the only one surprised by Ruby’s attitude to their study sessions, Ruby herself had been a little surprised. Whilst she’d turned up ready to study and learn, she’d expected to get distracted, get yelled at, and not enjoy it at all. What she hadn’t expected was for Weiss to be able to explain things clearly, point out things that connected and how much it had helped her remember things, although she still struggled to remember them for the first two weeks or so, and ended up getting very confused, to the point where she didn’t want to say anything for fear of upsetting Weiss. When she’d finally given up and told Weiss she couldn’t remember anything unless her notebook was in front of her, her stomach squirming, Weiss hadn’t yelled. She hadn’t been disappointed. She’d asked questions, what bits didn’t Ruby understand, what she could remember, what bits she struggled with, and then helped her go over them. Ruby’s worries had melted away, and after that any time she didn’t understand something she asked Weiss to explain it and she did.

The last study session had been a test on Plant Sciences, and Ruby had amazed herself by getting 71%. After only a month and a half of the study sessions she’d improved so much (in her eyes anyway), and now it was time for History. Ruby read through the quiz one last time to check everything, and whilst there were a few things she wasn’t sure on, she was happy with the majority of it. “Alright, I’m finished.” Weiss looked up, held out her hand, and Ruby passed the sheet of paper over, then sat nervously, fidgeting with her hands and her leg bouncing. She’d hit one of Weiss’ targets yesterday, and she _thought_ she’d hit it today as well, which meant a prize! Weiss had been super vague on what it was, but Ruby trusted her, it was going to be something good. Whilst she didn’t _enjoy_ studying, and probably never would, spending this much time with Weiss was a definite plus, and she had to admit it, even to herself, her heart swelled when she saw Weiss happy, which at the minute was mostly dependent on Ruby doing well. Ruby wanted to make her BFF proud. 

Weiss had a red pen in her hand, going over the sheet of paper with Ruby’s answers on, and whilst Ruby definitely saw quite a few moments where Weiss would write something down, she saw more ticks than notes. A lot more ticks than notes.

Ten agonising minutes later and Weiss had finished going over the test. “Ruby...”

Ruby gulped. “Yes Weiss?”

“I’m impressed.”

Ruby’s jaw dropped. Whilst she’d hoped to get a good score, she hadn’t expected Weiss to actually be impressed!

“You got 82 and a half per cent. I’m honestly proud of you.” Weiss sounded genuine and slid the paper back over to Ruby. “There’s a couple of basic questions you got completely wrong, and you were decades out on the year that Menagerie was given to the Faunus.” Ruby’s face dropped a little bit, hopefully Blake wouldn’t find that last bit out. “But you did really well. I’m...well, I’m a little surprised at how well you’ve done.”

“Thank you! I tried really hard to take everything that you’d said in, and whilst I couldn’t remember some of it, I figured a guess was better than nothing.” Ruby laughed and rubbed the back of her head, feeling a little strange and awkward to be getting such good praise from Weiss.

“Don’t let it drop! Seriously, just don’t, ok?” Weiss got serious, hoping to keep Ruby a little focused, but inside she was beaming. Now she could actually provide the prize that she had promised. Reaching down, she grabbed her bag, fished around in it for a moment, then pulled out two small envelopes and passed them over. “One for doing well yesterday, and one for today. I promised you a prize for doing well, so here it is.”

Ruby’s smile dropped the tiniest amount, _Envelopes? That’s a weird prize, whatever could be...OH MY GODS SHE DIDN’T! SHE DID!_ Ruby’s eyes shot wide open as she took in the small gift certificate and the writing on it. “Is...is this...”

“Yes, it is.” Weiss couldn’t help feeling a little smug, Ruby’s reaction was exactly what she had been hoping for.

“OHMYGODSYOUGOTME...” Ruby managed to squeak out loudly before Weiss leaned over and covered her partner’s mouth with her hand.

“We’re in a library you dolt!” Weiss said in a half whisper/half shout, before taking her hand away.

“Oh my gods you got me two gift certificates for Mr Chip! You’re absolutely amazing!” Ruby wanted to launch herself over the table and give Weiss a massive hug. Not just one gift certificate, but _TWO_! Best. Partner. Ever.

Weiss smiled, a faint pink tinge appearing on her cheeks, “I thought seeing as you had been trying so hard, and with how well you’ve done, you deserved a treat.”

Ruby was absolutely ecstatic, and it was easy to see, “You’re the best partner ever Weiss!” She was practically bouncing in her seat with happiness, and Weiss couldn’t help but feel a massive surge in her chest at the sight, and she blushed at Ruby’s praise.

“Can we go now?!”

“You dolt he’ll be closed by now, it’s gone 8!”

“Ok but can we go to Mr Chip tomorrow? Pleeeeeeease?” Ruby threw her biggest puppy dog eye look at Weiss, knowing that she couldn’t ever resist it. 

And Ruby was right, Weiss couldn’t resist Ruby’s those adorable silver eyes, so she rolled her own ice blue eyes, before smiling, “Yes we can go tomorrow.”

Blake and Yang were revising a lot more quietly than the rest of the team in their room. From what Yang had heard from Ruby about Weiss’ study sessions, Blake was the more forgiving, and relaxed of the two ‘teachers.’ Weiss did pop quizzes and going over things until they were memorised, whilst Blake took a more leisurely approach, asking questions as they went along to check Yang’s understanding and memory. Yang knew which of the two suited her more, and it wasn’t Weiss’ approach. Despite all of Yang’s jokes, she was serious about getting her grades up. “Alright, and finally, what’s last on the study board for today?” 

“Healing herbs.” Blake replied, closing one book and sliding it to one side, before pulling a different one closer and opening it. “What are the ten herbs or plants that can help either increase natural aura rejuvenation or replenish it?”

“Ten? Right...” Yang sat back to think, casting her lilac eyes to the ceiling, “There’s Chamomile, Valerian, Gingko, Feverfew, Milk Thistle, St John’s Wort, Goldenseal...erm...eck-something...echidna?“

Blake couldn’t help herself and laughed out loud at the last one and Yang immediately backtracked, “Wait, no, echinacea? That’s it!”

“Yes Yang, it’s echinacea. Echidnas are those porcupine-like animals with the spines.” Blake was still smiling at the mental image of Yang trying to fight one of the spiky marsupials into her mouth. “If you tried to eat one of those, I think it might do more harm than good.”

“Might?” Yang raised an eyebrow at her partner.

Blake was still chuckling, “Ok, ok, it would _definitely_ do more harm than good.” She stopped chuckling and tried to look serious, but her ears betrayed her mirth, “Come on Yang, what about the other two?”

Yang closed her eyes and thought as hard as she could, trying to remember her lessons with Professor Peach, as well as any bits of information she’d picked up over the last year at home and on the road. “Margolia. And...” she scrunched her eyes tighter before, “Taramis.” She opened one eye slightly at the last word, and grimaced, not fully sure if it was right or not.

Blake raised her eyebrows, “Both right. That’s all ten.” Yang beamed and Blake smiled right back at her, “And first time of asking too.” Yang flicked her fingers out wide and laced them behind her head, a smug grin on her face. “Now which ones replenish aura by a bit, and which just boosts your own natural rejuvenation.” Yang’s face dropped into a pout, clearly annoyed that her moment of triumph had been ruined.

“Erm, right. Shoulda guessed you’d ask that. Margolia, Goldenseal, and Valerian replenish aura,” She counted each off on her fingers, “Whilst the ones that just help with aura rejuvenation are Taramis, Milk Thistle, St John’s Wort, Chamomile, Feverfew, Gingko and...Echidna” She looked at Blake and winked at the last one, getting it wrong deliberately.

It had the desired effect and Blake smirked, trying to stifle it, before letting another laugh out, her mind filled with the image of Yang fighting an Echidna again. Yang grinned, she loved hearing Blake laugh like that, it didn’t happen often, and unfortunately it was never to one of her puns, but when it did happen it was brilliant. Blake’s laugh was loud and clear, so full of joy and happiness. Whilst Yang did really like seeing one of Blake’s customary smirks, sometimes with a sarcastic comment accompanying it, it was the laugh that was the best, partially because it was so rare, but mostly because it was so different to Blake’s normally quiet presence. Yang had a soft smile on her face as she watched Blake try to control the laughter and put a straight face back on.

The door flew open and Ruby came through the doorway skipping like she was walking on air, with Weiss trailing after her, a small smile on her face. Blake immediately brought the laughter under control and turned to face the other two. Yang felt a mix of disappointment that the laughter had finished, along with a bit of...she wasn’t sure what exactly, maybe happiness or pride, that Blake’s laughter was something she was only happy to show around her.

“Well someone’s clearly happy. And I thought this was supposed to be time for studying history, not each other.” Yang wiggled her eyebrows as Weiss and Ruby reacted.

“Yaaaang!”

“Stop. Just stop.” Weiss rolled her eyes and shut the door behind her. “We did study, Ruby is just happy because she’s done really well.”

“And because Weiss got me two gift vouchers for Mr Chip and we’re going tomorrow!” Ruby couldn’t help but add the extra information at the end.

Blake raised an eyebrow, as well as her ears in shock, and looked at Weiss. “Aren’t they really expensive and didn’t you get cut off over a year ago?”

Weiss suddenly looked a little awkward and embarrassed, “Err, yes, well. When Winter took control of the Schnee Dust Company after I...arrested…my father, she restored access to my funds.” She added the next bit quickly, “I had enough saved up for them anyway, but...yeah.”

Blake’s brain suddenly made a connection and she smiled slyly and nodded at Weiss, accepting her explanation, but making a note in her head to talk with her about it later.

Yang’s scroll started playing a song that Ruby recognised as Team OG from The Achieve Men, and everyone turned to look at it.

“Hey Dad,” Yang answered.

“The ceiling.” Blake rolled her eyes at Yang’s next words knowing exactly what she’d been asked.

“Hi Dad!” Ruby yelled out from across the room, having jumped onto her bunk, her legs swinging beneath her.

“Err yeah it should be fine, I’ll just ask.” Yang moved the scroll away from her ear and looked to the rest of her team. “Dad’s invited everyone to go to his for the Winter break, I’m just checking if that’s alright?”

“Course it is!” Ruby answered confidently.

“I’m ok with that.” Blake nodded to Yang.

“Well, I don’t have anywhere else to go, and I don’t particularly wish to spend it here on my own.” Weiss replied as if the answer was obvious.

“Ok, so that’s three yeses and an obviously. We’ll grab a flight to Patch tomorrow and see you then.” She hung up and turned to face everyone, seeing Ruby practically vibrating with excitement. “Looks like we’re spending the Winter Solstice with our Dad.”

“Woohoo!” Ruby shouted and pushed herself into the air, throwing a punch to celebrate before landing awkwardly, stumbling, and falling over.

“What are you doing you dunce? You could have injured yourself!” Weiss stomped over to Ruby and helped her up, chastising her for, as she put it, “Literally not looking before you leap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is quite a short one, so I’m sorry about that! Also, those herbs I mentioned in Blake and Yang’s study session, the first eight were just ones I googled as “healing herbs” and most of them won’t really do much and could even be harmful. The last two are just ones I made up. I included them because I needed some herbs and stuff to make up a plant sciences study session.
> 
> This is getting towards the end of the first mini-arc thing, which has mostly just been getting them back to Beacon and normal life. There’s another two, maybe three chapters (not sure as I haven’t written them yet) that will cover the Winter break, and then the next mini-arc will begin, and that one is going to show them as more professional Huntresses rather than just schoolgirls, and maaaaybe is the reason Goodwitch didn’t want them guarding Oscar. That’s all the advance notice I’m giving as I don’t want to give any spoilers away too soon!
> 
> Finally, I’ve released a second story! This one here is still going to be the main one, with weekly releases on a Saturday, but I’d had too many ideas for a second story, so I’ll be writing that at the same time and updating whenever a new chapter is finished. It’s basically a high school au with Faunus. If you could check it out that would be really great and I’d massively appreciate it, thank you!
> 
> Once again, thank you for any kudos, comments, bookmarks, or subscriptions to this story, it means a lot!


	8. Return to Patch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls head to Patch, Weiss searches for a Solstice gift, and Ruby has a long overdue chat with Tai.

“I still can’t believe we can’t go to Mr Chip before we leave...” Ruby muttered under her breath. She was, despite her age, sulking. And she felt highly conflicted about it. Whilst she didn’t get to go to Mr Chip before the Solstice - Weiss being the voice of reason that “he‘ll take two days to get the cookies ready and by that time we’ll be in Patch,” which was something Ruby agreed with, but wasn’t happy about - she did get to look forward to two custom, handmade, gourmet cookies when she got back. So, half good, half bad. 

What it also meant was that she was going to see her Dad for the first time in almost a year. Whilst she’d written to him and, once the CCT was working again, sent him a few messages to let him know she was completely safe, she hadn’t been able to face him on a video call after running away. Ruby knew it had been the right thing to do, but it still didn’t feel good. She knew her Dad had lost two of the four most important women in his life. Another one of them came back badly injured and wasn’t the same, and then Ruby had vanished too. For the first time in a long time, possibly since the last time she’d been in trouble as a kid, she was worried about seeing her Dad. She hoped he wouldn’t be too angry. She had to do what was right! He’d taught her that. Him and her mum. To do what was right no matter how hard it was. He’d understand that...right?

Ruby was so wrapped up in her head she didn’t notice that she wasn’t the only nervous one on the flight to Patch. Weiss and Blake were both nervous as well but trying desperately to hide it. All three of them had been so busy with packing bags for the trip, grabbing hidden Solstice gifts, and hiding them in luggage, and planning for what time to actually get the flight (they’d decided on first thing in the morning), that by the time they’d gone to bed they were tired and pretty much fell asleep straight away. The trio hadn’t had much time to stop and think until they were on the airship, at which point they didn’t have much to do _but_ think, and so their minds went into overdrive.

Weiss was nervous because she was meeting her partner’s father! It was someone who Ruby had talked about a few times, admittedly not very often, and not in as much reverence as the very rare times she spoke about her mum, but he was still an important figure in her life. Weiss needed to make a good impression, and even though she had deliberately moved away from the more formal and, frankly, stiff greetings of Atlas the closer she got to her team, she figured it might be the best way. Although then again, now she thought about it, Ruby and Yang’s dad had originally fallen in love with Yang’s mum, that crazy woman who had kidnapped her and held her against her will, and she was hardly a decent person...plus Ruby and Yang weren’t _exactly_ the most formal of people. So, should she be less formal and hope it was good enough? Or should she overcompensate?

Blake was also nervous because she was meeting her partner’s father, but the nerves were for a different reason and she was far more worried than Weiss. She’d heard how badly Yang had taken her running off after the fall of Beacon. There was no way that she hadn’t told her dad what had triggered it. None at all. And now she was going to spend the next week with him. In a house where she couldn’t hide or run away. Good thing she’d decided to stop running away a while ago then, because if she hadn’t, she would definitely be already running. How was she going to be able to face Yang’s dad knowing what she’d put Yang through? What she was responsible for? Whilst she’d worked it out with Yang and things were back to normal, it hadn’t been instant and had been built on the relationship they’d had before, whereas she’d never met Yang’s dad, and had no idea what he was like.

Yang was just excited to see her dad again.

She did however notice Blake’s rather stiff way of sitting on the airship and could tell from the way her ears were lowered against her head that she was thinking a _lot._ Without saying a word, she moved her hand slightly so it could touch Blake’s, who jumped at the touch before recovering quickly and glancing at Yang. 

“It’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry about a thing.” Yang smiled softly at Blake, squeezing her hand gently, hoping the encouragement would have an effect. Blake’s ears picked up quite a bit, so Yang figured she’d helped, even if it was only a little.

Before they knew it, they’d landed on the small airstrip, gone through security, grabbed their luggage again and headed to the small arrivals area. Looking around they tried to spot Ruby and Yang’s dad, before Blake pointed out a sign held aloft that said “Team RWBY”. They headed towards it, and Blake and Weiss got their first look at Taiyang Xiao Long, and both had a similar thought of ‘Cargo shorts? In the middle of _Winter_?! He’s definitely Yang’s Dad.’ True to form, he was wearing cargo shorts, a short sleeve waistcoat, with a shoulder guard on one shoulder and a leather arm guard/glove, with a piece of cloth tied around his bicep just above the elbow of the other arm. He was also wearing a black driver’s cap, with blonde hair sticking out from underneath, that Blake was fairly certain was just for show. If they needed any further confirmation, he was Ruby and Yang’s Dad, the way Yang yelled “Dad!” and threw herself at him as soon as she was close enough sealed it. He dropped the sign and grabbed her spinning round, the joy on his face evident. Putting her down he looked at Ruby with open arms, and Weiss noticed she hesitated for _just_ a moment before copying her sister.

After properly greeting his two daughters he faced their partners, both had stayed back a few steps, whilst the sisters had greeted him. He smiled warmly at them, “Nice to finally meet you both, I’ve heard quite a bit.” Blake was certain his eyes lingered on her a little bit longer than Weiss.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, Mr Xiao Long.” Weiss said quite formally and held her hand to him.

He raised an eyebrow slightly, still smiling, shook her hand and replied, “Please, call me Tai.”

Weiss nodded and Blake smiled slightly saying, “It’s nice to meet you too Tai.”

He nodded to her and asked the four of them, “Everyone got your luggage?” Everyone had so he continued, “Follow me out to the jeep and we’ll load them up.” They all went out to his jeep, loaded the suitcase and bags into the back of it, before climbing in. Yang called shotgun and jumped in the front, whilst Blake, Weiss, and Ruby climbed in the back, Weiss in the middle as she was the thinnest. Tai turned back as they clipped the seatbelts in, “All ok back there?” Nods and thumbs up sent the signal of yes. He tapped his driver’s cap and said “Great, _chauffeur_ , so good.” A wide grin at his pun revealed that he was _definitely_ Yang’s father. The high five they gave each other cemented it.

Weiss just turned to Ruby next to her and said, “Oh for Dust’s sake Ruby, you didn’t say there were two of them!” Which got an even bigger laugh out of Yang than the pun, and Blake just put her head in her hands. The rest of the drive was spent making some small talk about how the first semester had gone, as they drove to the wooden lodge that they would call home for the next week.

Weiss and Blake watched as it came into view from behind the trees, a two-story lodge with a sloped roof and chimney, and was large areas of grass surrounding it in the middle of a large clearing in the trees. Tai pulled up next to the garage and jumped out, Ruby and Yang copying him. Weiss and Blake were a little slower, looking around to take everything in.

They reached the door and Tai unlocked it with a sweep of his arms, “Welcome to our humble abode.” Weiss gasped and dropped to her knees, and Blake groaned. Tai looked incredibly confused at their reactions, until a small black and white corgi came running up barking happily. Blake immediately moved behind Yang, staring daggers at Zwei, whilst Weiss held her arms out for the little dog. Ruby crouched down next to Weiss and Zwei leaped into her arms, licking Ruby’s face happily. Weiss’ heart sank and she felt betrayed. A look of horror and immense sadness crossed her face, he’d forgotten her! How could he?!

Ruby saw her face and leaned into her with Zwei in her arms, who barked happily again and licked Weiss’ cheek. All thoughts of betrayal fled from her mind as she leaned back into Ruby and started scratching Zwei, “You remembered me! Who’s such a good widdle boy? You are! Yes, you are, yes you are!” Weiss’ voice took on a babyish tone as she scratched Zwei and nuzzled his face, happy to let him lick her cheeks and nose. Tai blinked and looked at Weiss, then at Yang and Blake. Yang shrugged and Blake moved further round to the other side of Yang away from Zwei.

“Well, you not being a fan of dogs isn’t exactly a big surprise,” Tai nodded at Blake who looked at him briefly before returning her death glare to the corgi in Ruby’s arms. “But it’s safe to say I did not expect you to be such a fan of them.” Tai’s lowered his eyes to look at Weiss, and his voice broke her out of trance and she shot to her feet, a pink glow bursting across her cheeks, becoming darker and more reddish by the second as she realised what she’d just done, and who she’d done it in front of.

“Only when they’re that cute.” Weiss’ voice was barely audible. Tai just laughed as he headed inside, Zwei leaping off Ruby to trot behind him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll keep him away from your things.” Yang turned slightly so Blake could see her words were directed at her, and she nodded in gratitude. They walked into the house, a fireplace with a small fire burning giving off warmth and a flickering light until Tai turned the lights on revealing the rest of the room. A large sofa was in the middle of the cavernous room, stairs to the right led to the upper floor, and a kitchen diner combo could be seen at the back of the ground floor. The main room was open but didn’t feel empty; a few photos were dotted across the mantelpiece, and a couple of paintings were on the wall. A few bookcases loaded with various books, and a cabinet that looked to be full of movie cases was behind the table with the TV screen on.

“I’ve shifted a bed from the guest room into your room Yang, so Blake can share with you and Weiss can go on the spare bed in Ruby’s room. Everyone good with that?” Everyone nodded, “Great, drop your cases off and we’ll go into Patch proper to grab some lunch.” 

Yang grabbed Blake’s case and her own, “Come on, I’ll show you where you’re spending the next few nights.” She winked and Blake rolled her eyes as Tai laughed.

“Separate beds girls! You know I’m a light sleeper.” Blake and Yang’s faces went as red as Ruby’s cloak.

“Dad! That’s not what I meant! Gods above.” Yang moaned before sprinting up the stairs, Blake not far behind her.

Weiss smirked and Ruby laughed along with her Dad. “Oh, this is going to be so much fun, she’s always been easy to tease when she’s got a crush.”

“A crush? On who?” Ruby stopped laughing and looked confused. Even Weiss turned her head to look at Tai, a similar look on her face.

Tai raised an eyebrow, “You both can’t spot it? Ah well, more fun for me.”

Blake and Yang went into her room, Yang saying “I’ll give you the grand tour when we get back after lunch, but here it is, my old room.” She pushed a door open with her shoulder and they went into the room. Yang’s bed had been pushed up against the window, the bedside table was still next to it, and then there was another bed next to it, giving just enough room for the door to be opened without hitting it. Blake was surprised at how bare it was and Yang noticed the look, “I took a few things to Beacon with me, and put the rest in the attic. Didn’t think I’d be coming back here very often.” She shrugged as she dropped their cases on the beds. Blake looked around the room and smiled.

“It’s still nice.”

Yang smiled back and they headed back, just as Ruby came past, pushed her door open, slid the cases along the floor, closed it again and managed to catch up to Yang and Blake before they’d reached the bottom. Weiss was knelt by Zwei giving him a tummy rub when they came back down. Tai walked out of the kitchen chucking a wallet up in the air and catching it. “All set and ready to go?” They made noises of agreement and headed back to the jeep, Tai driving them into Patch and insisting it was his treat for their lunch.

They’d finished eating and were walking out the restaurant doors when he asked what their plans for the rest of the day were. Blake and Yang decided to go shopping and have a look round the island, and Weiss said she needed to do some shopping as well. Ruby perked up, “Yeah, partner shopping! Ow!” 

Weiss had flicked Ruby in the forehead, “Sorry Ruby, but this is shopping I need to do on my own. I’ll keep my scroll on, but it’s personal shopping.”

Ruby rubbed her forehead and Yang chuckled, “Last minute Solstice gift buying? Thought you would have been prepared Ice Queen.”

“Quiet you brute.” Weiss snapped at Yang and stormed off, her cheeks red. Yang chuckled and her and Blake waved to Ruby and Tai as they followed Weiss towards the shopping district.

“So, how about a walk to the park?” Tai faced his youngest daughter.

“Ye-yeah. Let’s do that.” Ruby stammered a little as they headed for the park, neither of them talking on the way. They reached the wide green space, the majority of the trees showing bare branches apart from a few evergreen trees. The weather was a little chilly, but not overly cold, and there were only a few people about.

They sat down on a bench, Ruby tapping her fingers together and Tai sat forward, leaning slightly on his knees.

“So...” Tai began before Ruby jumped in.

“I’msorryforrunningawayandworryingyoubutineededtosavetheworld!” Ruby’s words came out in a mad rush. 

Tai just laughed, “How about you try that again, but slow enough for your old man to understand alright?”

Ruby nodded and breathed deeply. “I’m sorry for running away. I know you must have been worried like crazy about me and I’m sorry for that.”

Tai ruffled her hair, “You came back safe. Unharmed and safe. That’s what matters most.” She smiled back at her Dad, all her worries that had built up just melting away. “I do want to hear about it though, I got a condensed version from Qrow, but I’d like to know what my two girls have been up to. So, start at the beginning, and don’t leave things out. Ozpin told me about the relics and Salem a while back, but unlike your mum, I didn’t want a place on the front lines in his war. I chose to train Huntsmen and Huntresses as that was what I was best at. It’s not the life I wanted for you either, but I know I never really had a choice about that.”

Ruby nodded, it made sense if her mum, Yang’s mum, and Qrow had all been part of Ozpin’s war that her Dad would have known about it too. “Ok, but it’ll take a while.”

“I’m not going anywhere, and if your sister shops like she used to, neither is anyone else,” Tai laughed.

“Ok, so I met up with Jaune, Nora, and Ren, and we started heading to Haven, we stopped off to get new outfits, especially for Jaune...”

By the time Ruby had finished telling the story, an hour had passed by.

“I’m so proud of you, and I know Summer would be too.”

Ruby blinked in shock. Tai had barely spoken a word the entire time, letting Ruby talk whilst he sat there and listened to every word. Even when Tai spoke about Ruby’s mum, he never used her name, as if it hurt too much to say.

“Are...are you sure?” Ruby’s voice came out as a whisper. Afraid to ask one of the only people who knew her mum well enough to say.

“Absolutely.” He pulled Ruby into a hug, and she clung on tightly. “You went up against literally the ultimate evil. An insane, immortal, Queen of the Grimm. She was responsible for so much death and pain and suffering...and you took her down. You _literally_ saved the world. I couldn’t be prouder of you. You and Yang both. And I know Summer would be right here beside me agreeing with me if she could.”

“But I didn’t stop her permanently. We only sealed her and...”

“Ruby, you did more than anyone has done in literally centuries. Centuries! Your job is done. It’s finished. I know you still want to be a Huntress, and I won’t stop you, I’ll support you the whole way. But you don’t need to carry the world on your shoulders.” He placed his hands on her shoulders, “Let others help carry that burden. It’s not just yours to handle.”

Ruby laughed, “That’s exactly what Weiss said.” At Tai’s curious look, Ruby elaborated. “Right before the final battle against Salem, I...struggled. It was too much for me. I sat in a room out of the way, rocking back and forth. My heart was going like a thousand beats a minute. I couldn’t breathe. Everyone was relying on me. And I’d accepted that. I’d chosen to do it. I’d decided to take the fate of the entire world on my shoulders. But...right before the time came. I...I doubted myself. I didn’t think I could do it.” Ruby looked downcast and sadder than Tai had ever seen her before. “I told Salem we’d stop her.”

Tai waited. He knew his daughter well enough to know there was more to it than just that sentence.

“She said my mum said those words to her too...and she failed.”

Tai was silent. He sat back in shock. Eventually he found his voice, “Salem...killed her?”

Ruby just nodded.

Tai leant his head back and looked up to the sky. “I always thought the mission she’d gone on had been too easy for her to die on. She was too good of a Huntress. Makes sense though.” They were silent for a moment before Tai continued, “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“Avenging her.” Tai’s response was simple.

“But I didn’t kill Salem, I didn’t beat her.”

“Ruby, you helped seal her away where she can’t hurt anyone again. That’s as good as killing her for me.” He was silent again, before continuing, “So?”

“Huh?”

“You said you were struggling before the battle, sat in a room on your own.” Tai’s tone was gentle, drawing the words out of Ruby without directly asking her.

“Oh yeah. I...was in a bad way. A really bad way. Weiss found me. I don’t know how long I’d been there, or how long she’d been searching. She knelt in front of me, took my hands and told me it was okay to rely on other people. That I didn’t need to take the world on my back and carry the burden on my own. That she’s my partner and she’s there to help carry it for me.” Ruby had a small smile on her face as she remembered it, and Tai noticed, “She talked to me and helped me calm down. Good thing too, the battle started not long later. Without her I don’t know what I’d have done.”

Tai smiled to himself, recognising the signs, even if Ruby didn’t. “She sounds like a really good partner.”

“Oh she is! She’s the absolute best.” Ruby lit up now she was talking about a less depressing subject, missing the implication in Tai’s voice, “She’s my BFF!”

During Ruby and Tai’s talk, Ruby’s BFF had been struggling herself, just with a far less dangerous and life-threatening problem. Weiss had spent the best part of an hour going round the various stores trying to find the perfect Solstice gift for Ruby. Everything she could find just wasn’t good enough. She’d looked at some tools that she could buy for Ruby to use, but the only ones missing from Beacon’s workshops were ones that were rarely used, and she wanted to give Ruby something she would appreciate, not barely use. She didn’t want to get clothes as Ruby always wore the same sort of clothes, she didn’t wear much jewellery other than her earrings, and even those were simple studs. 

She was running out of ideas and was desperately searching a bookstore for books on Weapon Maintenance and Upkeep when she heard the bell of the door go and a familiar voice reached her ears.

“You ready for the big Solstice meal tomorrow?” Yang said, clearly with Blake as there was nobody else she’d ask that to, they all knew Ruby loved food so no need to ask her.

Sure enough, Blake’s soft voice came next, “Yes, it’s been a long time since I last had a proper Solstice meal, the last one I spent...hiding out, and the one before that we all barely knew each other.”

As soon as Weiss had heard Yang’s voice she darted to the back of the store behind a bookshelf. She knew Blake could see in the dark, but she couldn’t see through walls.

“Yeah, Dad’ll make Solstice cookies too, if you thought Ruby was quick at eating chocolate chip cookies you’ve seen nothing yet!”

“Surely not as quick as you demolished that taco earlier though?” Weiss tried to hide a giggle; she could imagine Yang’s face with its faked shock anytime Blake sassed her.

“Nah not that quick, but Ruby really does love Solstice cookies, they mean a lot to her.”

Weiss didn’t even know why she was hiding in the back of the store behind a bookcase, hoping the pair wouldn’t spot her, but she was. She kept watch as the two looked around in the fiction section, Yang holding a couple of bags in her hand, before Blake selected a book, paid for it, and they left.

Weiss waited until she was sure they’d gone before whipping her scroll out. Searching for ‘Best homemade Solstice cookie recipe’ she found a few and compared them to each other. Finding they were broadly similar; she thanked the person behind the counter and left. Looking both ways as she left the shop she headed off, following the map on her scroll to a supermarket for some much-needed supplies.

What Weiss didn’t see, or hear, was Blake and Yang _after_ they’d left the bookstore. Although Weiss thought she’d been quick enough to hide out of sight, even from a Faunus’ night vision, she hadn’t been. Blake and Yang had both seen her go into the store, which they’d been heading to anyway, and they had both seen the tail end of Weiss’ ponytail behind her as she slipped behind a bookcase.

“Do you think she got the message?” Blake asked Yang.

“Please, this is one time she’s gonna be grateful I’ve got a loud voice.” Yang laughed as she replied.

“Well I might have to gag you tonight then, especially if your Dad’s a light sleeper.” Blake said seductively before winking and walking away.

Yang just stared at her back, her face growing redder by the second. For once she had nothing to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is part 1 of the Solstice mini arc. It was originally just going to be one chapter, then halfway through writing this chapter it turned into two, but now I’ve actually finished writing this one I think the arc will probably end up being three or even four chapters.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has left a comment or kudos, or subscribed, it really means a lot!!!
> 
> I've got a second story up on here called 'These are the High School Days of Our Lives'. It's a high school AU for RWBY that covers the last two years before University at Beacon High for the majority of the main cast (RWBY, JNPR, etc). If you could check it out that would be really appreciated! I'm updating it as I finish a chapter rather than on a weekly schedule like this one, and the next chapter for it will be up within the next week!


	9. The Night Before Solstice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> T'was the night before Solstice and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a corgi. Well. Except for a short ex-heiress that really can't follow a recipe to save her life.

Ruby messaged the other three girls to meet them in the park when they done, and they all did, Weiss arriving last with a shopping bag of groceries that raised an eyebrow on Tai and Ruby, but not on Blake and Yang. They merely grinned at each other when they knew Weiss wasn’t looking. Together the five wandered back to the car park, climbed in the jeep and drove back to their home for the week.

It was just starting to get dark when they arrived, and despite being only fifteen minutes away from the main city on Patch, Tai’s cabin was relatively secluded, and it was easy to see the beginnings of the stars in the dusk sky. They piled out the van and into the house, all four of the girls agreeing that unpacking was the best thing to do next. Tai nodded as they told him and grabbed a lead off a hook on the wall, saying “I’ll give Zwei a walk whilst you girls unpack and show our guests around a bit more.” With that he tapped his thigh and Zwei bounded over and sat waiting for the lead, before they both headed out.

Weiss followed Ruby to her room, and Blake to Yang’s. Ruby waited for Weiss in front of her door, then pushed it open with a “Ta-da!” Throwing her hands wide, she walked in and immediately stumbled over the two suitcases she had slid just inside the doorway earlier that day. Weiss unsuccessfully tried to smother her laugh as Ruby got back to her feet, face going a deep pink colour from embarrassment. Weiss smiled and shook her head as she bent to pick her case up and moved it over to the foot of the bed she guessed was hers from the plain covers, whilst the other bed had a rose petal design covering it, which she figured, correctly, was Ruby’s.

Weiss looked around the room slowly, taking it in, the couple of picture frames on the dresser, the row of small Grimm models on a shelf, the small bookcase half empty. Ruby started at Weiss almost expectantly as she looked around, waiting for the opinion. “It’s not exactly how I imagined it.” Ruby looked confused, so Weiss elaborated, “You haven’t really spent much time here since before we started at Beacon, other than after...yeah. After then. So, I expected it to be a lot messier like you used to be. But I like it.”

Ruby laughed, “Yeah it would be messy usually, but Dad made me clean it before I went to Beacon, and then when I was here last I didn’t spend much time actually in here, except when I was sleeping, so I didn’t really have a chance to mess it up.”

“Can I?” Weiss motioned to the dresser. Ruby nodded and Weiss walked over to the photos. Ruby was silent as she walked and stood next to her partner.

Weiss picked up a photo of four young adults, two guys, both easily recognisable, a woman who was also far more recognisable than Weiss would have liked, and a black haired woman with red tips wearing a hooded cloak, whom she had no doubt was Ruby’s mother. “Is that?”

“Yeah” Ruby’s voice was soft and quiet. “That’s the only picture I’ve seen of all four of them together. Qrow, Dad, Yang’s mum, and my Mum. I think Dad put it in here after I went to Beacon, cos I hadn’t seen it in a long time before I came back.”

Weiss nodded and put it back, before looking at one that should have some happy memories attached, judging by the giant grins on the faces of the three people in it. Ruby saw where Weiss was looking and smiled, “One of the only photos I have of us with my Mum. We’d just been out for a picnic and Dad insisted on taking a picture, I don’t really remember it cos I was only like three or something, but Yang does. Apparently, I’d grabbed as many cookies as I could hold and then tried to make a break for it when I was caught with them, only I tripped over my own feet and face planted in the grass.” Ruby smiled and Weiss couldn’t help smirking, apparently Ruby had always been a klutz. “I wasn’t hurt, but Mum gave me a big hug and made me feel better, and apparently I got to keep most of the cookies I’d tried to run off with.” She smiled to herself at the story. Weiss looked at her and gently reached a hand over and put into Ruby’s hand, gently squeezing. Ruby squeezed back and leant her head on Weiss’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Weiss giving Ruby the silent support she knew was needed. Ruby was the first to move away, letting go of Weiss’ hand gently and smiling broadly, much more her usual self.

“Come on, let’s unpack and get changed into something more casual.” Ruby walked over to her case and threw it on the bed before unzipping it. Weiss watched her, smiled to herself, then put her case on the floor and unzipped it too. “You can use any drawers in the dresser as well as any space in the wardrobe you want, I’ll mostly just keep my stuff in the case so I don’t get confused with stuff that doesn’t fit me.” Ruby laughed as she said it. Weiss started to pull her clothes out and hang them up in the wardrobe, selecting an ice blue turtleneck sweater she knew to be cosy and warm, as well as a pair of black skin-tight jeans. Placing the folded clothes on the bed, she turned back to the wardrobe and started hanging the rest up. When Weiss turned around Ruby was wearing a black short sleeved top, an open red hoody, and some light blue tattered jeans, with her tights showing through the rips. Weiss struggled to keep her composure; _Has that dolt just got completely changed right behind me? I could have turned around at any minute! She could have been in her underwear!_

Weiss did manage to keep her composure, though it was a struggle, and picked her clothes up asking “Ruby, where’s the bathroom? I‘d like to get changed too.” Ruby nodded and directed her.

Blake and Yang meanwhile were both unpacking too, sharing a dresser between the two of them, taking it turns with the drawers. Yang picked her clothes out and got changed in the bathroom, whilst Blake got changed in the room and headed downstairs to wait for Yang, who came down a moment later. Blake smiled as her partner came down the stairs, feet almost soundless on the wooden stairs, wearing jeans, a yellow, low cut, v neck top, and a brown leather jacket. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes swept over Blake quickly, trying to hide it as she took in her outfit, black tights under denim shorts, a light grey top and a purple flannel. Blake had curled herself up on the sofa, with her legs beneath her.

“You know, that’s the quietest I’ve heard you be in a long time. If only Professor Greene could have heard, she’d have given you a higher mark for stealth.”

Yang stumbled the last stair, “Hey, come on, I’m not that bad! And don’t bring up school, we’re here to...relax!” She dropped herself into the sofa next to Blake as she said the last word. Blake just chuckled and went back to her scroll, reading a novel on it. Yang just smiled and looked at Blake, content to just be in her presence, no major worries, no madness about saving the world, and no worries about school.

A few minutes later Ruby came bounding down the stairs, Weiss not far behind her, and she threw herself onto the sofa over the back of it. The only problem was that she’d thrown herself a bit _too_ hard and so started to slip off. “Weiss! Yang! Blake! Help! Heeeeeelp!” Ruby’s feet in the tights were finding zero grip on the polished wooden floor, as she scrambled like crazy to stop herself falling off the sofa and, instead of helping, Yang was just cracking up laughing. Even Weiss and Blake were laughing hard as the sight of Ruby, the speed demon of Beacon, scrabbling with her feet to gain a purchase on the floor as she steadily slid further and further down was just too funny for any of them to intervene. Finally, after what seemed like five minutes, but was actually less than two, Ruby’s backside hit the floor with a soft thump, and she pouted at them all. “I can’t believe none of you helped me! I was falling to my _doom_ and all you did was stand around and laugh!” This exaggeration only made the others laugh even more, and Tai walked in from the kitchen to find three of the girls laughing very hard, Yang almost falling off the sofa herself whilst Weiss and Blake were trying, and failing, to hold their laughter back, whilst Ruby was sat on the floor pouting. Zwei, who had been trotting at his feet, went running over to Ruby to lick at her face, which broke her pout and she started to laugh with the others too.

“I don’t even want to know.” Tai shook his head and smiled. Later that evening the four girls were sat around the table as Tai served up grilled cheese sandwiches, something both Ruby and Yang claimed were “the best sandwiches Remnant has to offer!” Weiss couldn’t argue as she hadn’t had anyone else’s, and Blake...Blake was distracted. 

After eating, she slipped out to stand on the porch. Yang went to follow her, but Tai just placed a hand on her shoulder saying “I’ll go. I know she’s your partner, but I think she needs some Dad advice.” He smiled softly and Yang hesitated, the uncertainty plain as day on her face, but she nodded and went back to the table.

Blake was leaning on the porch railing, looking out at the sky as the stars twinkled, and Tai leant you against the railing as well, near enough to talk, but far enough away to be polite. They both stood there silently for a moment before he broke it, “What’s on your mind?”

“Why do you think there’s something on my mind?” Blake’s reply was quietly spoken, trying to be polite, whilst not opening up to him. He may be Yang’s father, but she still didn’t know him that well.

“The first time you saw me you looked petrified. You were also distracted enough during the meal that Yang noticed it and was on her way to find you before I stepped in.”

Blake nodded, “I’m sorry for troubling you, I’ll go find her.”

She was about to put her hand on the door when she heard his voice quietly say, “I’m not angry with you for running.” She froze, hand still outstretched and inches away from the door handle. Tai continued, “I know why you’d think that, and I don’t blame you for thinking it either, if the positions were reversed, I would probably think it too.”

Blake was quiet, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.” She was lying, she knew exactly what he meant, she just didn’t want to admit it.

“You faced an enemy from your past, Yang stepped in to help you, and she lost her arm. What did he do next? Threaten to kill her? Ruby? Weiss? Destroy everything you hold dear, whilst you‘re powerless to do anything but watch?” Tai didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “So, you ran. Rather than wait to see the worst happen, you ran because you knew he’d follow you. He’d leave the others behind because _you_ were his goal.” Blake was rooted to the spot. His voice was softer than it had been during the earlier day and meal. “But you didn’t realise what it would do to Yang. How badly it would affect her. In your eyes, you were protecting her from further pain, not realising what it would put her through to wake up and find her partner had vanished. It’s clear that Yang’s forgiven you, and I think you’ve mostly forgiven yourself too.”

Tai was still leaning on the railing, resting his forearms on it and not looking at Blake. “But you realised I’d been there for her at the worst point and seen what you leaving had done to her. So, seeing me terrified you because how would I react to you?”

Blake was still standing in the same spot, as much as the urge to run had filled her the moment Tai had started talking, she knew running would fix nothing, and she wasn’t going to run away anymore. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t sure she could right now, even if she wanted to.

“You made the wrong choice in running, but I’m not angry with you for it. You did it because you believed it would help and protect your teammates.” Tai chuckled, “Your intentions were pure, even if your idea wasn’t such a good one. I know you’re not asking for forgiveness, but even if you were, there’s nothing to forgive.”

Blake nodded slightly, knowing that Tai wouldn’t see it and went back inside. After she’d gone back inside, he chuckled to himself, “So that’s Ghira’s little ‘cub’ huh? She definitely looks like her mum used to...”

Back inside, Yang wandered over to Blake when she came back in and Blake just smiled at her warmly, “It’s all fine, I just needed some air.” Yang wasn’t sure she believed her but decided not to press the issue there and then, Blake would tell her at some point.

Early the next morning Tai was up well before dawn and headed to get a cup of coffee, only to find the kitchen light on. Confused, and a little wary, he moved closer, a faint smell of burning reaching his nose, and a softly muttered “Shit.” 

He leaned against the door frame, “You know,” A barely concealed shriek filled the room as the intruder jumped about a foot in the air, throwing the small bowl they had been holding upwards and spun around to face him. He caught the bowl deftly with one hand before continuing, “That’s not the language I was expecting to hear from the mouth of a Schnee heiress.”

Weiss’ face burned with embarrassment. “Ex-heiress. And I apologise for disturbing you sir.” Her hair was dishevelled, held back by a simple hair tie rather than the usual tiara, and whilst she wore an apron, there was flour marks on her clothes and some dough streaks on her cheek. Tai could see behind her that there were various ingredients as well as some cooking utensils that had clearly been used. Turning back around Weiss gingerly reached out and picked up one of the squashed blobs from a baking tray and took a small bite out of it. “Bleurgh!” She coughed and immediately threw the remaining cookie back onto the tray and sat down heavily in the chair.

Tai walked over and picked one of the cookies up, taking small bite, before copying what Weiss had done, only putting the cookie back more gently. “Ok, so first of all you need less salt. Like a _lot_ less salt. Second, you must be doing something weird with the mixture because it shouldn’t come out this hard on the outside yet undercooked on the inside.”

Weiss nodded, not trusting herself to speak, she knew she was moments away from crying, and she would _NOT_ cry in front of Ruby’s father. 

“Right, let’s put these in the bin and start again. Alright?” Tai opened the swing bin lid and paused a moment before pouring the remaining cookies into from the baking tray. “Weiss...how long have you been baking this morning?”

She winced; he’d clearly seen the other failed attempts that were already taking up residence in the bin. “What time is it now?”

“Five in the morning.”

“Then two hours.” Tai raised an eyebrow. She’d been trying to bake cookies for two hours? That was...strange.

“Why have you been trying to bake cookies for two hours?”

Weiss looked down, “They’re a Solstice gift for Ruby. I overheard Yang saying how much she loved Solstice cookies and so I wanted to bake her some.”

“Ok, that I understand, she _does_ love Solstice cookies, but why go to all the trouble of doing it so early in the morning? You’ve been at it for two hours already, and you look ready to drop. Why not just buy her some really good ones and leave it at that?” Tai shrugged.

Weiss stood back up with a straight back. She may have changed a lot since meeting Ruby, but she still had stubbornness and pride ingrained in her, and it did show through when pricked just right, like now. “Because any old fool could do that. I want the gift to actually _mean_ something. I’ve followed the recipe four times, and I followed it exactly! Each time they’ve come out awful. I just...I just want to give her a gift that she’ll appreciate.”

“Why does it mean that much to you?” Tai’s voice was soft again, a welcoming tone that invited people to talk, the same tone he had used with Blake the evening before.

Weiss moved as she spoke, gesturing with her arms. “It means that much to me because she was the first person I met who didn’t give a damn about who I was, or what my last name was, what I looked like, or whether I was smart or not. It really pissed me off to begin with, but after a while I appreciated it. She just wanted to be my friend because she _did_. There was no ulterior motive, no schmoozing to get into my family’s company through me, no gold-digging rich idiots trying to woo me because all they saw was a chequebook.” Weiss’ face changed to one of fondness, a small and gentle smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she continued to speak, “She’s our team leader and she’s always tried her best, she’s my partner, she’s supported me in everything without thinking or arguing, she was there for me when I had to go back to Atlas and face my father and brother, she...she’s my best friend, and this is the first chance I’ll have to give her a Solstice gift that means something. We barely knew each other for the first one, we missed the second one, so I want to get her a gift that will make her happy.”

Tai was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed casually and Weiss suddenly realised she’d gushed about his daughter to him, in his kitchen, at five in the morning. “Where’s the recipe you’ve been following?” Weiss pointed at her scroll that was propped up against the back of the counter, and Tai leaned over to flick through the recipe. “Ok, give it one more go, this time I’ll be here to point out where it’s not going perfectly. You’ll still be the one to make them, I’m just an additional part of the recipe help.” Weiss considered it for a moment and then agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve got this view that whilst Tai is a teacher at Signal, he’s also the counsellor for the academy too. Next week is going to be a bit fluffier, but still have a bit of angst in it.
> 
> Thank you very much for everyone who reads this and all the support!
> 
> I’ve got another fanfic that I’m writing and whilst it’s only at one chapter so far, I’m going to keep going with it alongside this one. It’s a high school story of RWBY set in the modern world (except it has Faunus in). It’s called ‘These are the High School Days of Our Lives’ and I’d really appreciate people checking it out! Thank you very much!!


	10. Winter Solstice!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's finally the day of the Winter Solstice!

Ruby woke up with a yawn and stretched her arms above her head, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, and she came to consciousness slowly. Looking around she heard the bedroom door open and Weiss came through it, fully dressed, but with her hair wrapped up in a white fluffy towel. “Morn-yawn-morning Weiss.”

“Good morning.” Weiss smiled at Ruby, her red and black hair was tousled from just waking up, and one strap of her tank top had slid part of the way down her bicep, revealing she wasn’t wearing a bra. At that realisation, Weiss blushed and looked away, fussing over making her bed properly and making sure she didn’t look at Ruby until the girl had gone to the bathroom. _Get a grip Weiss._ Unwrapping her hair, she plugged the hairdryer into the socket and sat at Ruby’s dresser. Focusing on ensuring her hair was completely dry, once she had finished she decided to forgo the braided ponytail she had used for the last few months and instead just put it in a basic ponytail and slipped a small hair tie around the base to hold it there, leaving the usual tiara on the bedside table where she’d placed it the night before. She turned around to find Ruby sitting on the end of bed grinning like an idiot, bouncing ever so slightly.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at her, inviting Ruby to set free what she was obviously dying to say. “Happy Solstice Weiss!”

Weiss rolled her eyes and stood up, “Happy Solstice Ruby. May your year be as bright as the snow.” Despite the apparent disdain, Weiss was smiling as she said it. It had been far too long since she had actually celebrated the Winter Solstice, and a lot longer since she’d cared about it. But here? And now? She was hoping it would be the start of caring about it again. _I know if that dolt has anything to do about it, I’ll end up caring again._

Ruby grinned even wider, even as she tilted her head to the side slightly, “Is that an Atlesian Solstice greeting?”

Weiss nodded. “Yes, as you know, it’s traditional to wish someone a very bright year to come on the shortest day, and as white snow is so common in Atlas, it was incorporated for that greeting.”

Ruby smiled as she stood up and joined Weiss as they headed downstairs. “The proper Vale one is...erm...I don’t know to be honest; it’s rarely ever said!” Ruby looked a little embarrassed as she realised she couldn’t remember the traditional greeting, to which Weiss laughed.

“It’s only really used in Atlesian high society because appearances and tradition are everything up there. But I figured as it’s our first proper Solstice together...” Weiss shrugged a little and followed Ruby towards the kitchen, finding Blake sat with a mug of tea in front of her, eyes fixated on the book in front of her, and Yang leaning her head on her hand, staring at a cup of coffee trying to stay awake. Tai meanwhile was leaning against the counter with a smile and a cup for himself.

“Happy Solstice everyone!” Ruby shouted as she bounded into the kitchen, her face back into its massive grin.

“Happy Solstice kiddo,” Tai ruffles his youngest’s hair as she gave him a massive hug. “Happy Solstice Weiss,” he smiled and handed a cup of coffee over, which she gratefully accepted.

“Happy Solstice to you too Tai, and to you both as well.”

Yang lifted her head up and downed her coffee in one go. She shook her head, hair swishing behind her quickly before settling again. Blake gave her a quick side eye as the blonde locks flicked against her before the other pair said their greetings as well.

Everyone could see Ruby was bouncing up and down on the spot with excitement, and none of them could resist the childlike eagerness that was radiating off her.

“Fine then, come on girls, let’s get on with the main event.” Tai pushes off from the counter and headed to the living room, a red blur of petals shooting behind him, splitting into two to go around him without hitting him, before reforming into their excitable team leader. He laughed, “That’s a new trick, when did you learn to split?”

Ruby pauses her bouncing as she thinks, “Err, about a year and a half ago? It was just before the Vytal Festival, but I didn’t have the hang of it properly until after I headed to Mistral.”

As Yang walks past she nods towards Weiss, “She can do it with other people too.” And winks at Weiss, who splutters in response.

“She‘s done it with you and Blake too!” Unfortunately for Weiss this only makes Yang smirk even more.

“Yes, but it makes me feel nauseous, so I prefer just running.” Blake walks past Weiss, who was still standing indignant halfway to the sofa, and sits on the edge of it next to Yang. Yang’s open mouth changed into a pout at the clear and obvious attempt to steer the conversation away from double entendres.

Tai meanwhile, to Yang’s amazement, had actually ignored the not so hidden meaning in her words. “Hmmm I’ll have to see that, that’s very interesting. I can get the sparring ground set up later in the week for you if that’s alright?”

Ruby grinned, clearly excited at being able to show how much she’d improved to her Dad, “Yeah! We can also do sparring practice and work on some team moves too! This way nobody will be able to spy on us for the tournament!” She said the last bit in particular to Weiss, who grinned alongside Ruby.

Tai turned to Ruby, “But if you’re going to do it with other people, make sure everyone else is out of the house first, especially me.” He winked at Yang, who cackled whilst Ruby turned bright red.

“Dad! Stop joining in with her! Gods I haven’t missed you two together...” she put her head in her hands. “Can we just open presents now? Please?” Yang and Tai laughed, and he nodded, directing her to the pile around the fireplace. Letting out a whoop, Ruby disappeared in a swirl of rose petals and was in front of the fireplace, distributing presents accordingly.

Yang motioned to Blake to open hers first, and she did so, recognising the shape as clearly a book. Pulling the wrapping off she actually let out an audible gasp, eyes wide, and ears pointed skyward, before immediately shoving the book back in its paper and staring at Yang intently. “Where did you find this? How did you find this? What did you have do to get a hold of it?” Ruby and Weiss looked at each other out the corner of their eyes, each as baffled as the other.

“In a package, delivered by courier, and sweet talk a guy at the publishing company in Vale into letting me have an early release copy for reviews.” Yang’s grin stretched from ear to ear. “I know how badly you’ve wanted it and how much you’ve been trying to hide it, but feel free to delete your preorder for it now.”

Blake’s cheeks turned a little pink as she clutched it to her chest, “I feel a bit bad about what I got you...” Yang looked confused and opened her gift from Blake. She saw the picture, read the description on the box, and roared with laughter. Blake looked a bit better at Yang’s reaction, “You’re always complaining that you can never see anything at night so...”

Yang turned the box for the others to see: Night vision goggles. Tai burst out laughing, Ruby started to snicker, and Weiss cracked a smile, all of which made Blake feel better about her (sort of) joke present to Yang. She’d hoped her partner would appreciate the joke, as Yang did actually complain quite a lot that she couldn’t follow Blake easily when they were on night missions together.

Continuing on the circle, Weiss was next. She opened the badly wrapped package knowing it was from Ruby and she stared at a beautifully bound, black notebook. She ruffled through the pages quickly, seeing it had everything she looked for in a planner, a day by day diary and planner combo, plus a space for notes at the end of every week, month, and then a larger section at the back. Best of all, the inside was a soft ice blue, matching her snowflake symbol that was embossed into the front cover.

“It’s a reinforced moleskin cover, so should able to take almost anything that could happen to it. I know your old one was getting full, so figured you could do with a new one.” Ruby smiled as she explained.

“It’s beautiful, where did you...” Weiss spotted a small mark inside the back cover and just looked at Ruby, knowing exactly where she had got it _made_ , and exactly how much it had cost her to do so.

“Aha...yeah. I’ll tell you later where I got it...” Ruby rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Aaanyway, my turn? Woo!” Switching topics back to presents that hadn’t cost her almost every bit of lien she’d got since they’d gone back to Beacon, she picked her present up, a large round cylinder. Unwrapping it she found a plain metal tin inside, one she was fairly certain belonged to her Dad, and was usually used to store cakes or cookies. Opening the tin, she let it a quick cry of happiness and pulled out a very slightly misshapen Solstice cookie in the shape of a snowflake, before devouring it. She turned to Weiss, “Did you make these yourself?” 

Weiss looked anywhere but at Ruby. “...Yes. But I had...”

Tai cut her off, “No help whatsoever. She was up most of the night making them for you.”

Ruby gasped and threw herself at Weiss, wrapping her in a massive hug, squeezing tightly. “Thank you so much! This is the best gift you could have ever got me! I love Solstice cookies, especially homemade ones, and you made them just for me!” 

Yang’s eyes glinted behind Ruby and Weiss’ backs; her plan had worked! She sneaked a glance at Blake, who saw it, and rolled her eyes, not wanting to give Yang the satisfaction of an ‘I told you so!’

“Ruby. Can’t. Breathe.” Weiss managed to croak out over Ruby’s bare shoulder that was pressed up against her neck. If she hadn’t been squeezing so tightly, it might have actually been rather nice. When Ruby pulled back the look on her face made all the effort that morning worth it and more. She ate another cookie and was sat there with a massive, beaming grin on her face.

Yang leaned over and said, “I take it you like them then?”

Ruby nodded vigorously, “They’re delicious!” Weiss blushed, happy that she’d managed to get it right, even if she had to have some help from Tai.

They went round in the circle, each person opening one present each until they were all opened, by which time it was a bit before lunchtime and Tai vanished into the kitchen to make them a simple lunch, before starting preparations on the Solstice dinner to come that evening. The four girls lounged around, Blake reading her new book, Yang and Ruby playing a video game against each other, and Weiss looking through her new planner. After their lunch they watched a traditional movie, ‘A Muppet Solstice Story’, one that Weiss had never seen before, but ended up absolutely loving, much to Ruby’s joy.

The Solstice dinner that night was everything they had hoped for. Plates and plates of food, everyone talking, including Blake and Weiss, who both felt included as part of the family. Neither of them had experienced a family Solstice in quite a long time, and it was refreshing. Yang and Ruby both kept an eye on their respective partners, making sure they felt included, but they needn’t have worried.

After the dinner was finished, Blake, at Yang’s urging, went upstairs to give her parents a call to wish them a Happy Solstice, and Weiss messaged Winter to say the same. Yang went out onto the porch to get some fresh air, and Tai followed her. Ruby was curled up on the sofa with her cookies munching away happily, with Weiss next to her. “Ruby?” Weiss asked tentatively.

“Yeah?”

“Did you mean what you said about them being delicious? I mean they’re misshapen, there’s definitely a couple that were overdone...” Weiss looked down as she worried out loud.

Ruby laughed, which earned her an icy glare from her partner. “Weiss they’re absolutely amazing. The fact that you made them yourself makes them even better. So yeah, I meant it when I said they’re delicious. Because they are.” She smiled reassuringly at Weiss, whose gaze softened and nodded.

Yang was leaning on the railing looking out towards the forest, staring into the inky darkness between the trees. “If you’re trying to see into the forest, you might as well use your Solstice gift.” She hadn’t heard Tai come up behind her, and he was sat in one of the wooden chairs.

She gave a hollow laugh, “It’s not quite like that.”

“So, what is it then?” Unlike with Blake and Weiss, both of whom Tai hadn’t been sure how to go about drawing details out, he knew Yang needed a much more direct approach.

Yang looked him in the eyes, “I killed someone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit shorter, but mostly happy chapter, with pretty much nothing bad happening. Had to have one in there.
> 
> Yes, in case it wasn’t obvious enough, Winter Solstice is basically Christmas, and as my favourite Christmas movie is a Muppet’s Christmas Carol (such a good movie!), I had to put it in somewhere.
> 
> Next chapter Yang has her chat with Tai, and, although I haven’t written it yet, I think that’ll be the last chapter of the Patch mini arc.
> 
> As always thank you all so much for reading and leaving comments, kudos, and subscribing, it really does mean a lot.


	11. A Couple of Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yang talks to Tai, Blake calls her parents, and Weiss and Ruby speak with Winter.

“You killed someone?” Whatever it was that Tai been expecting, it wasn’t that revelation.

“Yeah.” Yang sounded worried; and she was. It was one thing to kill Grimm, they were monsters. Beating dangerous people up so they could be thrown in jail and not hurt anyone, that was also fine. Straight up killing someone though? That was a whole different thing.

“Was it on purpose or accidental?” Yang looked at Tai. He didn’t have a judging look on his face, and his voice had the same calming tone. She was silent and Tai nodded, accepting her silence as the answer. “I’m not gonna ask if they deserved it or not, that’s not for us to decide. But tell me about it, it’ll help to talk.” 

So, she did. Yang sat next to Tai and told him the whole story and left nothing out. “...and I stabbed him in the back, and Blake stabbed him from the front. In his chest.” Yang’s hand was trembling, and her voice had become more monotone as the story went on. When she finished she breathed out heavily.

Tai nodded and gently gave his eldest a hug, kissing the top of her head. “You’re gonna have nightmares for quite a long time. Your hand will probably tremble like it is now in random moments.” Yang focused and stopped the trembling, holding onto her wrist with the other hand. “You took a life. That’s something big. And regardless of the reasons behind it, it will haunt you for a very long time.” Yang looked at her Dad, petrified he was judging her for it. “But at the same time there wasn’t any other way. He sounds like someone who can’t be persuaded or talked to, who only understands violence and the possession of things he believes belong to him. There wasn’t any other choice, because he would have kept coming and coming until he had made good on his promise to Blake and destroyed everything she loved, including you.” Yang nodded, feeling relieved her Dad wasn’t angry or judging her. “So, whilst I won’t say don’t worry, because you will, and taking a life has a burden and a toll of its own, you did the only thing you could to protect your partner and your team. You did the right thing.”

Yang gripped Tai tightly, she’d been terrified of telling him, afraid that whilst he approved of her and Ruby becoming Huntresses, he’d be disappointed in her for killing someone. She’d lost Summer, she’d lost Raven twice by now, and she couldn’t lose the last parent she had left.

“Plus, I’m a little proud.” Yang pulled back to look at him as if he was crazy. _Proud? Of her killing someone?_ Seeing the look on her face he laughed, “Not like that. I’m proud because you faced off against the asshole who took your arm. The first time you fought you charged right in, full of rage to protect Blake, and you lost instantly. This time you didn’t become blinded by anger or revenge, you tried to get him to leave you two alone, then when he wouldn’t you fought back using your brain, and you fought him together. You didn’t just rely on your semblance to win, you timed it to maximum effect, and used it in the best possible way. Shows you actually paid attention to your old man in the summer!” Tai laughed again and gently pushed against Yang’s shoulder with his fist.

Yang smiled, “Yeah, those sessions were actually helpful. Surprisingly. Guess there’s a reason you’re a teacher eh?” She elbowed him in the side gently.

“Ouch! Harsh!” Tai exclaimed dramatically leaning to one side clutching his side. Yang laughed and shoved him a bit harder in the shoulder and he laughed as well. Whilst Yang and Tai were talking, Blake had slipped off to Yang’s room to call her parents.

“Blake, sweetheart!” Kali was overjoyed to see her only daughter, the smile reaching her eyes, which were crinkling a little at the corners.

“Hi Mum,” Blake’s voice was quiet, but she was very happy to see her Mum again.

“I’ll just get your father, Ghira!” Kali leaned back to yell at a closed door. Kali and Ghira had rebuilt the manor that had been badly damaged by the fire the year before, updating it a little bit but mostly keeping the same aesthetic.

“I won’t be much longer dear, just finishing this report!” Ghira’s deep voice called back.

“Your father, working even on Solstice.” Kali chuckled, a soft and light laugh, “Then I guess you won’t be able to say Happy Solstice to our daughter then!” Kali’s voice was good natured, and she winked at Blake, who smiled as the door to what she guessed was her father’s study was thrown open, and Ghira came out straight away. 

As soon as he saw Blake on the call his face split into a massive smile and he came round to sit next to his wife, who gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Blake! Happy Solstice, I’m so happy you called.”

Blake smiled back, she could see that they were both really happy, and she couldn’t deny that she was too. “Happy Solstice.”

“So,” Kali’s eyes twinkled with mischief, “Your dorm room looks a little small, I thought Beacon’s dorms were four person dorms?”

“Oh! Um. I’m not at Beacon right now. I was invited to spend Solstice with Yang’s dad.” Blake’s ears dropped a little, realising immediately that her mum had known she wasn’t at Beacon straight away, and guessing where the conversation might be heading.

“Yang? She’s your partner, isn’t she? The tall blonde girl from Haven.” Ghira might have been a formidable fighter, and an excellent diplomat and leader, but he could also be just a little dense at times.

“Yes, she is.”

“Well, is there any reason we haven’t been introduced yet?” Kali’s eyes were still twinkling.

“Muuuuuuum...”

“What? Is there anything wrong with me wanting to meet my daughter’s partner? I take it you two managed to patch everything up between you if you’re at her house.” Kali’s voice was teasing, and she was smirking.

_Thank Dust Yang isn’t here right now, she’d be having a field day._ Blake decided to tell the truth quickly in hope that it would stop her Mum teasing a little. “The invite was for the whole team. Yang’s talking with her Dad right now, and Weiss and Ruby are calling Weiss’ sister.”

“So, we’ll just have to wait even longer before we’re introduced? Are you embarrassed of us?” Kali pulled back and put a hand to her chest in shock, but her voice was still full of laughter, so the shock wasn’t even remotely genuine.

“No! No.” Blake’s ears dropped completely to flatten against her head. “I could never be embarrassed of you.”

“We know that sweetheart. Your mother‘s just teasing you.” Ghira’s deep voice softened her nerves and her ears went back to their normal position.

“I’m sorry for teasing Blake, I just want to meet your friends. We barely got a chance to say hello to them back in Haven and I know how important they are to you.” Kali’s voice softened like Ghira’s, the teasing gone completely, her own ears dropping slightly.

“I...I know. I’m just still getting used to having you both back in my life. I missed you a lot. I still do.” Blake’s voice cracked a little. Seeing the way that Yang and Ruby had been around Tai, and the kind way he’d treated both her and Weiss had made her miss her own parents.

“Oh, sweetheart we miss you too, terribly.” Ghira’s smile was soft and full of love for his daughter.

“I have an idea, as there won’t enough time for a visit before you go back to school, I doubt Beacon’s Solstice breaks are any longer than they used to be, but why don’t you all come to Menagerie for a few weeks in Summer? It’ll be good to relax and you can show your friends around. Plus, we can see you more.” Kali was excited, having thought up a great way to both spend time with Blake _and_ get to meet her teammates and friends.

“That’s...not a bad idea. I‘ll definitely ask them, and I think they’ll agree with it.” A thought suddenly came into Blake’s head, “Are you sure it’ll be alright for them to come down? As um...one of them is Weiss Schnee...” Whilst she knew her parents would be accepting of her, Blake was a little worried that some other Faunus might not be.

“You mean the Weiss Schnee who arrested her own father and rather publicly had him sent to jail? The younger sister of Winter Schnee who, having assumed partial control of the Schnee Dust Company before passing it to board members, immediately improved working conditions for all Faunus to at least tolerable levels with promises of continued improvement? Promises that have actually been stuck to?” Kali smirked at her daughter.

“I can understand why you’d be worried sweetheart, but enough news from Atlas has travelled down here that I think she’d be perfectly welcome. Plus, she’s one of your teammates and friends. We’d be willing to give her a chance even without all of that.” Ghira helped ease her worries.

“Ok, good.” Blake was relieved to hear it.

“Now, tell us all about your start back at Beacon!” Kali smiled, happy she was able to question Blake about her life again, she’d missed far too many years of her daughter’s life.

Blake smiled and her ears flicked up in happiness, “Well it didn’t get off to the best start, we’d been made Huntresses in Atlas but...”

As the others were having talks with their parents, and Blake was filling in her parents on the year so far, Weiss had called Winter. She wasn’t alone however, Ruby butting in on the call as didn’t want to be left alone whilst everyone else spoke to someone.

“Good evening Weiss, Ruby, I hope you’ve both had an enjoyable Solstice.” Winter’s polite voice came through smoothly, the work on repairing the CCT network clearly progressing well.

“Thank you sister, it has been enjoyable so far. I hope yours has been too.” Weiss’ walls were back up, and she’d reverted to her more formal and polite way of speaking. It wasn’t as bad as it used to be, but it was still more formal than the way she spoke around Ruby and the others.

“Happy Solstice Winter, umm may your year be...as white as the snow?” Ruby tried. 

_Bless her, she tried_. “Bright” Weiss whispered out the corner of her mouth next to Ruby.

“Bright! As bright as the snow.” Ruby sat further upright and beamed as she finished saying it, as she did so a small smile crept into Winter’s mouth.

“Thank you Ruby, and to you as well.” Winter nodded at Ruby before turning her attention back to Weiss. “In answer to your question Weiss, my Solstice has been...productive.”

A sudden shout rings up from a distance offscreen, “If by productive you mean attempting to work the Council members half to death, then yes, it was highly productive.” Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, they hadn’t been expecting Winter to have company.

Winter rolled her eyes in a way that Ruby found very reminiscent of Weiss before she replied, “My apologies for trying to get the cities of Atlas and Mantle back to normality. But I believe you were the one who insisted on being present at all times as a representative of the citizens of Mantle. I sincerely apologise that you’re unable to keep up with the demanding work rate that requires. If you no longer wish to occupy the role Councilwoman Hill, I’m sure I can arrange a press conference for you to resign publicly.”

“Ha! Your sarcasm is improving Ice Queen, but I’m not the one slacking off with video calls here.” Robyn Hill’s voice came back through with a laugh before she directly addressed Ruby and Weiss, “Happy Solstice you two! Pass it onto your teammates and Qrow!“

“Happy Solstice!” Ruby yelled back, leaning slightly as if that would help her voice reach to wherever in the office Robyn was. Weiss grabbed the back of Ruby’s trousers and pulled her back to sitting down next to her.

“Do you really have that much work left to do?” Weiss’ formality dropped and was replaced with a voice that rang with concern.

“Yes. Whilst Ironwood’s martial law and other declarations have been removed and repealed, there is still much to do until Atlas and Mantle are closer together. Mantle has been shackled with too much for too long in the forms of various laws and court rulings. Undoing them all and providing a more equal alternative is proving to be a challenge. Especially with Atlas attempting to be a barrier in every situation.” 

Winter rubbed the bridge of her nose between her eyes, the tiredness finally evident in her voice. “I apologise for causing you concern Weiss, but I will be fine.” Her tone shifted back to normal, “How are your studies progressing?”

Weiss allowed herself a moment to breathe and drop back into formality before she replied, “They are going excellently. Whilst I am not top of the class in _every_ subject, I am still in the top three.”

“And outside of studies? I see that you are not in your dorm room.” Winter raised an eyebrow.

“No, Ruby and Yang‘s father was gracious enough to host our team for the Solstice.”

Ruby had stayed silent through the back and forth between Weiss and Winter, keeping an eye on both of them, slightly comparing the two in her head. _It‘s surprising how alike they are, similar facial expressions, the eye roll was practically identical, same posture. There are subtle differences too, Weiss allows her defences to drop much faster to show concern, she raised her right eyebrow, whilst Winter raised the left._ Ruby also noticed that Winter was slightly loosening up, not considerably, but much like Weiss had in the first year after a while of being around people less formal than her, Robyn was starting to have an effect on Winter. The slightly drop in her guard to let the tiredness seep into her voice was potentially a result of that, but Ruby didn’t know Winter well enough, she was basing it off Weiss. Who elbowed her in the hip out of view of the camera breaking her out of her thoughts.

“Ah! Yes? Sorry.” Ruby blushed slightly, she’d got caught up in her own head.

“I was asking you to pass my thanks onto your father for agreeing to host Weiss alongside you and your sister.” Winter repeated.

“Pfft it’s fine, Weiss is part of the team! Course he‘d host her.” Ruby dismissed Winter’s comments with a slight wave, then remembered it was Weiss’ sister who had said it, and she wasn’t at Weiss levels of informality yet. “Buuuut I will pass them on to him regardless.”

Weiss rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly, before a loud bang made everyone jump. Winter looked to one side of the camera as a separate voice that Ruby recognised as belonging to May Marigold shouted out, “Right, I’ve had it with the pair of you! It’s almost ten o’clock at night, on Solstice. Quit working and relax! You’ve been in here since eight this morning, nothing is going to happen anywhere until the Solstice break is over, so take some damn time off.” She continued after a pause, “That goes for you too Ice Queen!”

Winter’s eyes narrowed, “Excuse me for the interruption to this call Weiss, but I am going to have to deal with this intrusion.”

She started to get up, but Weiss called out, “Winter!” She stopped standing and lowered herself back into the chair, before Weiss continued, “Whilst I disagree with her methods of barging in, May is right. There won’t be any decisions to be made or council meetings until after the Solstice break, and if you’ve been working since eight then you need to take a break to avoid burning out. Please.”

Winter sighed and rubbed her eyes again, “It...it has been a lot of work. Fine. I suppose if I burn-out from overwork and am unable to get anything done, then it will most likely come at a far worse time than now, so a break _may_ be in order.”

Weiss allowed her smile to spread across her face for a moment, before she controlled it and went back to her more formal expression. “Thank you, sister.“

Winter nodded, “I will say my goodbyes now then. I will update you with further news on mother and Whitley when I have something positive to say about the situation.”

Weiss’ returned the nod with a pained expression, “Very well, thank you. Enjoy your break.”

Robyn’s blonde head suddenly popped into view, “Don’t worry Ice Princess, I’ll make sure she does.” Her words were accompanied with a wink.

Winter bristled, despite not having seen the wink, “And just what do you mean by that?”

“Well Ice Queen, you’ve subjected me to over twelve hours of nearly solid work on the actual Solstice itself, so it’s only fair you do what _I_ say regarding taking a break.” Robyn had moved back out of camera and was clearly standing opposite Winter, as her eye line was drawn to somewhere off screen and up to the right.

Winter looked back at Weiss, “Apologies to the pair of you, it appears I need to explain myself to this overexcited idiot that our ideas of ‘taking a break’ differ greatly.” Weiss had just enough time to say goodbye before Winter hung up, cutting Robyn’s response to being called an idiot short. 

“Well...that was something.” Ruby was the first one to say something.

“It was.” Weiss shook her head, “and what in Dust did Robyn mean by Ice Princess?!”

Ruby burst out laughing, “Well maybe because she calls Winter ‘Ice Queen,’ and there can’t be two Queens, so the next one down is Princess.”

“Hmmph.”

“Don’t worry Weiss, you’re still _our_ Ice Queen!” Ruby beamed as she said it.

“Please don’t start turning into your sister...dolt.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so the Solstice arc is going to take yet another chapter haha. Next one might just be a short one though, but it should be the final one! ...should. Don’t hold me to it.
> 
> Yang’s talk with Tai feels pretty short to me, but I struggled with making it longer without either going over the events of the actual show (something I’m mostly trying to avoid) or bringing up a crush on Blake, which I think is too early to talk with Tai about just yet. Anything else I tried to put in just really didn’t fit, so I know it’s shorter than the talks with Blake and Weiss are, but they just flowed a lot more to me.


	12. Practice Makes Perfect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team RWBY gets down to practicing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s been a while! First off, I’m really sorry it’s been nearly two months since the last update. I’ve had to go back to work full time, and then got hit with some really bad writers block, which is not a good combo for a weekly release schedule...

The next morning everyone came to consciousness at different times. Tai was up first, getting a coffee and then working on removing a large area of snow from the back garden, setting up the sparring ring. Ruby was the next up, rolling out of bed and getting a cappuccino for Weiss, knowing from experience that it helped soothe her morning crankiness. Weiss, having been woken up by Ruby leaving and returning to the room, was mollified by the coffee. Blake and Yang woke up within a few minutes of each other, mostly because Yang rolled too far and fell out of bed with a loud thump.

By the time Tai had finished clearing the area the four girls were up and had eaten some form of breakfast, whether it was fruit for Weiss, cereal for Ruby and Yang, or toast for Blake.

Tai took his gloves and shoes off next to the door and shook his shoes free of the lingering snow. Weiss was trying to hide the look of amazement that he’d been outside in the snow, still wearing cargo shorts, but Ruby recognised the look on her face and giggled. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve seen him wear trousers in aaaaages.” Weiss raised an eyebrow and Yang yawned and nodded in agreement.

Coming over to the table he made himself a fresh coffee before talking, “Oh yeah, Qrow messaged me late last night.” The four girls looked at him, “He said he was sorry to miss Solstice this year, said he hopes all four of you enjoyed it. He also said not to worry about him being on his own, or about drinking, he’s sticking to water.” Tai said the last bit with a hint of disbelief. “I remember you saying he’d gone sober but didn’t realise he was serious…” Ruby smiled softly, glad that Qrow was doing alright.

The rest of the morning was spent very leisurely, Blake curled up in an armchair with a book, occasionally shooting glares at Yang, who was sat on the sofa with Zwei giving him scratches. Weiss was sat next to her, both of them watching an old movie, barely paying any attention to it. Ruby was lying on her back in front of the sofa, legs and feet up on the space next to Weiss, and it showed how comfortable they all were that Weiss hadn’t slapped Ruby’s feet aside.

“I hope you guys are actually planning on doing something with that sparring area I spent half the morning clearing for you.” Tai was stood with a glass of water in his hand.

“Oooooh yay!” Ruby shot to her feet in seconds, “Now we can practice some of those moves we came up with!” Blake looked to Yang who shrugged, and they got up. Weiss was already straightening her clothes out and heading for the stairs, the moment Tai had mentioned he’d cleared the area she’d stood up, guessing where her leader’s mind was going to be headed.

Twenty minutes later and they were all standing in the clearing, Zwei sat by Tai’s feet holding a towel. “So, what first?” Yang looked at Ruby.

“Well, me and Weiss have a couple of strategies we want to try for all four of us, and then...” Ruby shrugged, before Weiss spoke up.

“You could always practice some hand to hand? You haven’t really practiced it much since Atlas.”

Tai grinned, “Oh you actually started practicing it? I can help out with that.” 

Ruby’s face lit up, “Yeah! Can’t wait to show you my kick ass moves!” She threw a couple of punches and grinned. Weiss just rolled her eyes and shook her head, a soft smile on her face.

“Come on Rubes, focus! New strategies! How we gonna kick butt next?” Yang grinned and punched her fists together. Whilst Yang might have enjoyed goofing off a bit, she took sparring pretty seriously.

“Ok! First off, this is for all four of us, and Blake, you’re the focus point...” Ruby started explaining it, and they spent the next two hours running drills and practicing the various strategies she’d come up with. Occasionally Tai gave some input, a little improvement here, do it _this_ way instead of _that_ and it’ll work better, had she thought of what would happen if someone did _this_ , every time he spoke he helped improve it, all without making Ruby doubt herself or the original strategy she came up with. Each time she grinned even wider and immediately changed the strategy up to fit and made it work. He mostly stayed quiet though and just watched. 

_My little girl has all grown up_ he thought to himself, watching Ruby gather Weiss up in petals and shoot around one of Blake’s clones, before looking to the sky, _Can you see our baby Sum? She’s more like you every day, and she’s mastered your eyes. Our little Dragon is doing well too, getting more like me every day, the poor girl, still making awful puns._ He chuckled. _You’d be so proud of them both._

Just then, he noticed something off with Ruby’s petals as she swung around, dropping Weiss off to lay down a large freeze glyph. The petals were pink...His brain clicked through memories, Ruby’s petals had always been red for as long as he could remember, and from the strategies he’d just seen, when picking up Yang or Blake her petals stayed red. But with Weiss they were pink...red plus white equals pink...his face split into a large grin. _So little Ruby has a crush eh? Both of my girls having crushes on their partners, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree that’s for sure! Wonder how long that’s been going on...I’ll need to do some digging._

By this point the girls had finished the last strategy and were talking, Ruby giving one last bit of info before ending the session with a cry of “Great job team!” Zwei took this as his cue to trot over with towels strapped to a small carrier on his back. Yang and Ruby took theirs, Blake was very hesitant but after looking at Yang, she grimaced and grabbed it off Zwei quickly before retreating back to Yang, and Weiss knelt down and took her towel whilst giving Zwei scratches and baby talking about how much of a good boy he was. 

Ruby couldn’t help but giggle at Weiss and think about how she used to be so stuck up. Even now she was still a little bit uptight ( _Though she’s loosened up quite a lot since then_ she thought) and to see her baby talking a small dog was such a strange sight, but it fitted her somehow. This side of Weiss was something only their team got to see - she’d even whined to Ruby one evening about not being able to pet a cute puppy that had run up to her near one of Vale’s parks one time, determined to keep her image up outside of the school and their dorm rooms.

The girls headed inside, and all agreed on the usual order of showering: Yang first, then Weiss, then Blake, and finally Ruby. They’d agreed it back in first year as Yang hated her hair being sweaty and unclean, Weiss was just as picky but without the temper and grumpiness of Yang, and Ruby wasn’t fussed at all, so Blake went before her. The system had worked for over two years without argument, so it made sense to keep it up.

When they’d all showered they sat down to eat a simple lunch that Tai had made with Yang’s help, Weiss and Ruby had sat on the porch as Weiss couldn’t stand being in a room with the two blondes when they were having a ‘Pun Off’ as they called it, and Blake read whilst waiting for lunch.

A little while after lunch they all headed back outside, minus weapons, to watch Ruby and Yang spar with their Dad. Yang rolled her shoulders and danced on her feet a little, and Ruby stretched, throwing a few shadow punches. Tai walked over into the centre of the clearing and stretched a little. “Two on one alright?”

The two sisters looked at each other, shrugged and then back to their Dad. “Yeah, that works fine for us.”

Tai nodded, “Good, I won’t go as easy on you as I used to either. I won’t try and break your auras, but I won’t hold back either.”

Yang smirked, “Best not hold back old man, if you do it’ll be over quickly.”

Tai laughed, “Let your fists do the talking firecracker.” And with that they started.

Yang and Ruby moved slowly forwards, not wanting to be the first to attack. Ruby looked between Yang and her Dad, and as she looked to Yang, Tai struck. He shot forwards throwing a jab to her face, but Ruby saw it in the corner of her eye and ducked it. Unfortunately, she ducked right into his knee that had come up, the jab a feint. Ruby staggered back, and Tai would have followed up except Yang took advantage of his distraction to throw an attack.

He blocked with his elbow, spinning around to strike with the other. Yang caught it and tried to sweep his legs, only for him to jump over and push his elbow further towards her. This threw her off balance, but she recovered and threw a few quick jabs, Tai ducking and dodging. Ruby had recovered by this point and dashed in, throwing a few quick punches of her own, aiming for Tai’s side. He took the first couple then caught her wrist and threw her towards Yang, but Yang rolled under her flying sister and launched a hook kick followed by several more that Tai batted away.

Ruby had recovered in mid-air and used her semblance to dash around the pair of them in a circle. Tai shoved Yang back and swung a roundhouse kick into Ruby’s path, only for her to split herself in two, reform, and land a kick to the back of his standing leg, dropping him to his knee off balance. Yang stopped her fist an inch from his face.

The dust settled from their movement and he grinned. “You’ve both improved, I’m pretty proud. But it’s not over yet!” He grabbed Yang’s fist and used it to pull himself up and behind her, driving a knee into her back as he stepped backwards. They continued to spar, Tai getting quite a few hits in on both of them.

Weiss and Blake stood next to each other watching the three of them.

“He’s a lot stronger than he lets on, isn’t he?” Blake muttered to Weiss.

She nodded in agreement watching her teammates and their dad fight hand to hand. Ruby still relied on her fists quite a lot, but Weiss knew that was down to her arms being stronger than her legs, a consequence of carrying and using Crescent Rose so much. Yang was using her fists and elbows more than her legs, but not by much. Tai meanwhile used anything he could in the fight, elbow, fist, knee, feet, legs, and swapped between them constantly, never keeping a single style up for long.

A little while later, Ruby was thrown again, and she landed in front of Weiss and Blake panting. She looked up at Weiss from the ground and grinned, “See? Told you Dad is strong!” She rolled to her feet and was about to join in again but stumbled as she walked forwards. Weiss grabbed her arm and they looked at each other for a moment before Ruby nodded and went next to her.

Yang continued fighting, but didn’t last much longer than Ruby, finally getting her feet swept and landing on her backside. She grinned and accepted the hand up from Tai, pulling herself to her feet.

“You did good firecracker, you too kiddo.” He patted Yang on her back, and they all headed back inside. Yang headed for a second shower of the day, Ruby taking hers afterwards. Weiss sat down at the table and started looking at their still to be written essays, Blake with her.

When Ruby came down and saw the essays, she groaned and flopped onto the sofa. “Don’t worry, you can nap.” Ruby shot up and looked over the back of the sofa at the table where Weiss was sitting. “You’ve done group training, and then hand to hand sparring with your Dad. I’m not so cruel as to make you sit down and work on essays after all that. I know you’re tired, so get some sleep. There’s still a few days left of the break to get the essays done.”

Ruby smiled warmly at Weiss, “You’re the absolute best ever Weiss.” Then she lay down on the sofa and within a few minutes she was asleep.

Blake looked at Weiss who blushed ever so slightly and muttered “Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.” Blake smirked at Weiss’s words and they focused on getting to work on their essays.

The rest of the week was spent working on essays, Ruby and Yang unafraid to pick Tai’s brains and ask for help, with Blake asking the odd question as well, despite Weiss initially insisting that it was cheating. She came around to it once Tai explained it was pretty much the same as using a large book: he may be a teacher for Huntsmen, but as he wasn’t setting the essays or marking them, there was no conflict of interest with grades and he was just a repository for knowledge. Ruby had grinned as Weiss managed to justify it and started asking him for help with one or two points on her essays too.

Each night Tai cooked them a meal and they sat together around the table talking and laughing, Tai mostly telling stories from his days at Beacon, or stories of Yang and Ruby at Signal. At the mention of Yang’s mother Raven in one, Tai had noticed Weiss wrinkle her nose slightly and he laughed. “I take it you’ve met her then?”

“I had the exquisite pleasure of staying with her for a day or two. In a cage. After she kidnapped me.” Yang gripped Weiss’ hand and opened her mouth but Weiss cut her off, “Not your fault at all, nor your place to apologise. You’re not responsible for the actions of your mother.”

Yang smiled and squeezed her hand gently before releasing it. “She didn’t used to be quite that bad.” Tai sighed, “But people don’t always stay how you want them to.” A look of melancholy crossed his face before he started another story from Signal involving Yang and Ruby, much to the protests of the sisters.

Before long, the final afternoon of the break arrived and Ruby spoke with her Dad, who nodded. “Umm guys?” Everyone turned to look at her. “Is it alright if we all go for a bit of a walk? Together?” They looked at each other and nodded, grabbing boots and shoes, and then followed Ruby and Tai out the door, Zwei trotting along slightly behind Tai. 

Weiss noticed that Ruby was uncharacteristically quiet during the walk through the forest, following a well-trodden path. She quickened her pace to catch her partner and touched her forearm gently, “Ruby?”

Ruby turned slightly to look at her, and Weiss could have sworn that for a second her face wasn’t the happy and carefree look she normally wore. It was the stressed, terrified, and devastatingly unhappy face from Atlas, the face Weiss would never be able to forget. It was the face Ruby had had when she’d been curled up in that little room, barely able to stand or face what was coming. The look of a broken woman. It had killed Weiss to see it.

But then it was the normal, happy look of Ruby Rose, team leader and sugar addict. “Hey Weiss! Glad we managed to get all the essays done?”

“What’s wrong Ruby?”

“Wha-what? What makes you think something’s wrong? Ha ha...” Tai saw and heard the interaction, slowing to let the two walk further ahead and have a little space.

“Because you’ve been overly quiet since this morning, you barely touched breakfast, and you’ve had this air of unhappiness around you all day. And just now you weren’t quick enough to hide your face. I know that look.” Weiss’ voice was soft despite the words being a little blunt, and Ruby gave a soft, small smile.

“It’s not what you think Weiss, you’ll see in a minute or two anyway. We’re almost there.” Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly but let the matter drop for now, determined to bring it up later when Ruby might be more inclined to talk.

A minute or two later the trees thinned and gave way to a large clearing with a light dusting of snow, reaching to a cliff edge with a block of sloping grey stone sticking up from the ground. Weiss felt a bit shocked, “Is this...?”

“Yeah. Yeah it is.” Ruby gave that soft smile again and Weiss felt an overwhelming urge to hug and comfort her. “Is it alright if I...?”

Weiss nodded, “Of course it is, you don’t even need to ask.” Ruby smiled and walked over to the stone and crouched in front of it. Blake and Yang joined Weiss, with Tai and Zwei stood just off to the side. Weiss looked to Yang and said quietly, “Did you know?”

“Where we were headed?” Weiss nodded, “Soon as we reached the path. This cliff is the only reason the path exists. Mum loved to come up here.” Yang had a sad smile as she looked at Ruby and Blake placed her hand on Yang’s arm to comfort her.

Ruby was crouched in front of her mother’s grave, trying to think of what to say. But she shook her head and decided to just let it out. “Hi Mum, it’s been a while huh? Sorry it’s been so long, there’s kinda been a lot that happened since we last spoke!” She laughed quietly and without any humour. “My team got back together, that’s a good thing. Blake came back and we managed to find Weiss, well, she found us more accurately, she broke out of her home and snuck out of Atlas to find us! She’s a great partner, like seriously the best.”

“Umm...we beat Salem. I mean as much as we could have done, she’s trapped and sealed away, so we won! Dad says he’s happy because I avenged you, but...but I wish I hadn’t had to. I wish you hadn’t been dragged into Ozpin’s war, and that you were still here. I mean I know you probably volunteered for it, sort of like I did, but still. I’ve got so many questions to ask you, so much advice I need, that I can’t get from anyone else. There are times when I just need a hug from you, to feel you stroke my hair, and hear you tell me everything will be okay. I just need my Mum sometimes. And I know it’s not your fault, that you were just being the hero you always were, but it still hurts.”

She sniffed, “I brought my team though! So, they can meet you and say hi. And Dad’s here too, so you’ve got plenty of company this afternoon, and you won’t be alone. I’m...I don’t really feel alone anymore. Since Weiss came back, she’s not really left me alone, which is what I want. She’s been so good to me, and she’s my BFF - she even admits it sometimes now!”

Ruby sighed a little, “I’m rambling, aren’t I? Jumping from one thing to the next. I should probably introduce Weiss.” Ruby turned and called Weiss over, nodding her head when Weiss seemed a little surprised. Weiss crouched next to Ruby and looked at the headstone. “So, this is Weiss! Weiss, Mum, Mum, Weiss.”

“Hello Mrs Rose.” Weiss smiled softly. “I’m Ruby’s partner, and the one who has to put up with all her shenanigans and convince her to keep studying.”

“Hey! I’m not that bad!” Ruby laughed, and Weiss let a chuckle out too.

“No, she’s not. You’d be so proud of her. She’s doing really well at Beacon, I...might not have thought she’d be a good team leader when we first met, but she is. She’s amazing at it. She’s so strong, but she’s also really caring. She always tries her best to look out for me and others too. Ruby really is an amazing person, and you should be so incredibly proud of the woman she’s become.”

“Awwww Weiss! Like I said, she’s my BFF!” Ruby grabbed Weiss in a one-armed hug and Weiss smiled.

“Yes, you dolt, I’m your BFF.” Ruby gasped at Weiss agreeing. “But if you tell anyone else other than your mother, I will absolutely deny it.” Ruby laughed and then waved Blake and Yang over. 

Blake looked at Yang, “Are you sure?”

Yang smiled and replied to the unspoken words, “Of course, I’d much rather you meet my proper Mum than the one who gave birth to me. You’re important to me, and it would mean a lot for you two to meet.”

Blake and Yang went over, and Ruby introduced them, “So this is Blake, she’s part of the team too, and I think you know her partner.” Blake smiled and said hi, whilst Yang laughed and punched Ruby gently on the arm.

“Hi Mum.” Yang smiled sadly as she looked at the grave. Ruby stood and motioned for Weiss to follow.

“It was nice to meet you Mrs Rose, hopefully I’ll speak to you again. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure Ruby keeps up at school.”

“Hey!” Weiss looked at her pointedly, “Okay fine you’ve got a point. Bye Mum, I’ll talk you again soon. I love you.” Ruby gave a small wave and then headed back to Tai, giving him a massive hug and squeezing tight. He stroked her hair and bent slightly to kiss the top of her head. Ruby let go and stood next to Weiss. Weiss smiled, took one of Ruby’s hands in hers and squeezed it gently.

“This is Blake, my partner. She came back. The first person who left me to actually come back.” Blake’s ears flattened in guilt, and her facial expression mirrored them, but Yang continued, “And I’m glad she did. Because I can introduce you two to each other, and not just sit here and talk about her.” She threw an arm around Blake’s shoulders, “This is my partner Blake Belladonna, and I couldn’t wish for a better partner to have by my side.”

Blake’s ears perked up at that and she smiled, “And I couldn’t hope for a better partner than your daughter. Yang is strong and brave, kind and thoughtful. She’s willing to go the extra mile for people to help them out. From what Ruby’s told me of you, it seems Yang gets that from you. So, I hope you’d be happy with what she’s done.” She stood up and squeezed Yang’s shoulder and left, letting Yang have some time alone.

Yang looked at the grave sadly, “Well I found Ruby.” She laughed slightly, “Managed to pick Weiss up on the way, and then Blake met up with us when we least expected it, but we’re all together again. I saw my other Mum as well. She was...well she was what I expected. Which is worse than what I hoped for. It just reinforced that you‘re my real Mum, even if we’re not related by blood. You’re still my Mum, and you always will be.” Yang turned slightly to look at her team on the edge of the forest, Blake’s amber eyes catching hers briefly.

“I don’t really need to look after Rubes anymore, she’s capable of it herself, and she’s actually got a good partner. I give her stick quite a bit, but Weiss is a good person at heart, and she cares for Ruby. I’ll still keep an eye on her though, what else are big sisters for?” She chuckled, “Keep an eye on Dad for me though please. I worry he gets lonely out here. Love you Mum.”

Yang stood and walked over to Tai, who wrapped her in a bear hug and kissed her forehead. She stepped over to the others who pulled her into a group hug. “You girls head back without me, I’m gonna be a while alright?” They nodded and started the walk back to the house. Tai wandered over to the grave and sat down next to it, ignoring the snow and cold that seeped through his cargo shorts. Zwei trotted up and sat on his other side, leaning his head against Tai’s leg. 

He stared out over the edge of the cliff as the sun started to set, purples and oranges crossing the sky, and lighting the clouds up like fire. “We did a good job Sum; we did a good job.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really hard to write. I’ve never written a fight scene before and writing the conversations with Summer was pretty difficult too. Still not sure on how it’s come out either tbh.
> 
> I’m gonna try and update more often than recently, but it won’t go back to the weekly updates it was before. I’m back at work full time now, so that’ll slow it down.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads this, whether you comment, bookmark, subscribe, or just read it. It all means a lot that people read this. See you next time!


	13. Return of the Plot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The girls return to Beacon and finds someone has arrived a little earlier than expected.

“Got everything packed?” Tai was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame.

Ruby and Weiss both turned to look at him, “Yep!” Ruby popped the p at the end, “Everything packed and ready to roll!” Weiss nodded in agreement.

“Great, I’ll check on the other two and then we’ll load it up in the truck.” He wandered across the hallway to Yang’s room and knocked on it before entering. “You two ready to go?”

Blake was lying back on the bed, a book above her head, and a clearly packed bag at the end of the bed. Yang was playing on her scroll but sat up at her dad’s voice. “Yeah, we’re good to go. Want me to take the bags down?” Tai nodded and Yang stood up, and waited for Blake to close her book, sliding it into an outer pocket, before they carried their bags downstairs. Weiss was pulling her suitcase onto the landing behind them, and Ruby stood behind her, staring around her room. She smiled at it, before following the other three down.

Once they’d loaded the bags on, Zwei came out to say bye, Ruby and Yang giving him a quick hug and a scratch, whilst Weiss baby talked to him again, giving lots of scratches and belly rubs. Yang rolled her eyes and chuckled whilst Ruby watched fondly. Blake meanwhile was already sat down, giving the dog a slightly evil stare. Despite not having bothered her _too_ much, Blake still didn’t like dogs.

Weiss finally finished saying goodbye to Zwei and Tai locked the house up and drove them to the airport so they could board their ship back to Beacon.

“Feel free to come back, all of you.” Tai gave Ruby and Yang hugs, then turned to their partners, “That includes both of you, you’re both welcome to come back any time, with or without my girls. You’re both a lot quieter, and _definitely_ more polite than they are.”

“Hey!” Yang spoke up, “You raised us, so any lack of manners is your fault.”

“Yeah!” Ruby stood next to her sister and gave her a high five.

Tai pulled Blake into a hug and whispered, “She can be a bit dense at times, but I know Yang’ll be more than fine with you as her partner. Don’t apologise again,” He beat her to it before she could, “Your heart was in the right place, and that’s what matters. Have some confidence in yourself, from what I’ve seen, you deserve it.”

Blake smiled and hugged him back a bit more tightly, before heading over to Yang.

Weiss started to hold her hand out to shake it, but Tai just raised an eyebrow and opened his arms. To her credit, she only hesitated for a moment before walking over to him and hugging him tightly. _Yang clearly gets her warmth from him_ she thought.

“I meant it about being free to come back anytime, especially you Weiss. You’ve helped keep Ruby going at her darkest, and it’s clear to me how much she means to you. You’re more than welcome here, and you always will be.” Tai hugged Weiss a little tighter, and Weiss didn’t trust herself to speak, just hugging her partner’s father back. 

She’d spent less than a week with him, but in that time he’d helped her make cookies, listened to her breakdown over trying to do something good for his daughter, cooked her dinners, helped with some training and her essays...Tai had been more of a father to her in that week than her real father had been in the 17 years she’d spent with him. _To be fair_ she thought, _that’s a pretty low bar to clear, and Tai had done it in a single morning when he helped me with those Solstice cookies for Ruby_ , _but the point still stands._

They let go and the four girls waved to Tai as they headed to get their airship back to Vale and Beacon.

The trip back went without incident, Blake curled up to Yang slightly, leaning back on her whilst reading a book she’d pulled from thin air, whilst Yang was flicking through her scroll. Weiss and Ruby were discussing a new idea for a team move between the two of them that would make use of Weiss’ summons as well as her glyphs.

When they arrived, they dropped their bags off at their dorm room, and despite Weiss’ insistence that they unpack now, Ruby’s stomach growling convinced her that they should eat first. The four headed down to the cafeteria together, Ruby being held back from storming ahead by Weiss. 

“Ruby? Hey, guys!” Jaune came running after them and they stopped to look back.

“Hey Jaune, what’s up?” Ruby bounced on her feet, clearly a little impatient about not getting to go for food.

“When did you get back?”

“Err...” Yang checks her scroll, “About ten minutes ago? We were just headed to get lunch.” 

“Wanna come with?” Ruby asked, still bouncing.

“What? No, I’m good. So, you haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?” Weiss crossed her arms, a little annoyed that from the sounds of it they’d been left out of the loop.

“Oscar’s here. He’s in the infirmary.”

Ruby’s jaw dropped, “But I thought he wasn’t getting here till spring?”

“It would seem Atlas sent him early.” Weiss’ voice still had a tinge of annoyance to it, but it was missed by everyone.

“I can show you where his room is if you like?” Jaune turned and after a quick glance at each other, the four girls followed.

They arrived at the infirmary and waited whilst Jaune signed them in, he’d explained that the only people who were allowed to see him were either the professors, or people he, Ren, or Penny authorised. Nobody asked why Nora hadn’t been given that responsibility, they all knew why.

The room was very sterile, and almost glowed white. Whilst auras helped protect and heal from most injuries, if the aura was broken or the injury was severe enough, like Qrow’s poisoning or Oscar’s coma, then time was needed to help heal. Medicine always helped as well, so every combat school had an infirmary just in case. 

Beacon’s was a stereotypical one, very white, very sterile, and clearly designed for Huntsmen and Huntresses resting from injuries rather than for teenagers healing. There were little to no posters or anything to indicate frivolity or enjoyment. Weiss shuddered walking in, it reminded her a little bit too much of Schnee Manor. Without saying a word, Ruby moved slightly closer and rubbed her back gently, helping to calm her down, and she smiled back in response.

“Here we go.” Jaune stopped outside a locked room and tapped a code in. The door swung open and a clean-shaven guy jumped to his feet reaching behind his back for a moment before relaxing when he saw the blonde. “Hey Ricardo, it’s just me. Brought some of Oscar’s friends to see him briefly.”

Ricardo nodded and sat back down, crossing one leg over the other and pulling a coin out of his pocket. He flicked it up and down, but the girls all saw that his eyes never left the five of them.

Oscar was lying in bed, a suitcase beneath it, and Ozpin’s cane shrunk down on a bedside table. His face looked pale, and his eyes were closed, but he didn’t look in pain, if anything he looked peaceful.

“How is he?” Ruby looked to Jaune, who shrugged.

“He’s alive, but that’s pretty much all we know. His aura has mostly come back, but we’re not sure if the whole thing is back, or just a part of it.” He looked at them pointedly and they got the hint. Seems even Jaune had grown up and stopped accidentally blabbing things.

After a couple of minutes Yang decided to voice what they were all thinking, “Watching a guy in a coma is just a liiiitle bit creepy right? Or is it just me feeling that way?” Quick agreements from the other three led the guys and Jaune to head to the cafeteria.

“So, what’s with you, Penny, and Ren being able to sign people in and stuff?”

Jaune looked at Ruby to reply, “It’s cos we’re sort of his unofficial slash official guardians. Since...yeah, you know.” The girls nodded, knowing he was referring to Ozpin’s final takeover and subsequent hibernation in Oscar back in Atlas, “Goodwitch said that he needs to be watched over by a professional Huntsman at all times. If we’re in the school then great, that’s us most of the time, but we’ve also gotta be careful and not draw attention to ourselves, otherwise it’s gonna be pretty weird why half of us is always in the infirmary.” 

He sighed, “Whilst it does give us a pass on every mission, we ‘take’ it does get a little boring having nothing to do.”

“Why do you say ‘take’ as if you’re not really taking it?” Weiss was curious as to what Jaune had meant, and unlike Blake, who shared her curiosity, Weiss was happy to prod.

“Because we have to be bodyguards for him until he wakes up, we ‘take’ missions like everyone else, but never actually go on them. We’re told exactly what missions to take, and then a professional either does them for us, or already has done them, whilst we stay at school and watch over Oscar.”

By this point they’d reached the cafeteria and they grabbed food and sat at a table together. Checking nobody was listening in, Jaune continued, “I mean I get it, Oscar is pretty important, but we won, didn’t we? Why do we need to protect him if we won?”

“Because we never caught Cinder or Hazel.” Ren, Nora, and Penny slipped into seats next them.

“Salutations friends!” Penny was as happy to see them as ever, and Nora just grinned and waved, her mouth already full of food.

Ruby’s grip on her cutlery went very tight at Ren’s words, her knuckles going white. Jaune replied but Ruby didn’t hear him, Cinder would stop at nothing to try and free Salem, which was a big issue. She ran through the different Maidens and Vaults in her head. The Winter Maiden was safe with them, so that Vault was closed off. Spring was Raven, and they’d heard nothing from her since she’d vanished at Haven, but hopefully she’d escape if she heard about Cinder gunning for her. Ruby knew nothing about the Summer Maiden, but figured she was probably somewhere in Vacuo, like the Summer Vault was. The only Vault Cinder could open herself was Fall, and that was at Beacon. Where they were. 

She felt a soft hand gently close around hers and Ruby looked up. Team JNPR were still discussing Cinder and Hazel, filling Penny in on their particular issues with Hazel, and his with Oscar. Ruby’s team were all looking at her though, and Weiss was gently holding one of Ruby’s hands in hers. Yang was in the process of reaching out for her other hand, and Blake was looking at her with a worried look on her face.

Ruby smiled weakly and let go of her cutlery gently, so it didn’t clang on the table and alert the others. She nodded to her team and Yang withdrew her hand, whilst Weiss squeezed gently before moving hers too.

“So, what’s your plan for the rest of the break?” Jaune has turned away from the others and directed it at Ruby and her team. Penny, Nora, and Ren looked at them too.

“We finished all our essays, so I plan on doing some reading.” Yang snickered as she knew exactly what books Blake was planning on reading. She’d been surprised she hadn’t read her Solstice gift immediately, but apparently every time a new Ninjas of Love came out, Blake reread the entire series up to that point before reading the new one.

“I was thinking of relaxing for the rest of today, and then going into Vale tomorrow. Do you want to come with me Ruby?” Ruby blinked at Weiss’ request. _Is Weiss actually asking to spend some time with me?_

“Umm yeah, of course! What else do BFFs do eh?”

“That, and I believe I also owe you some cookies.”

“You do? YES, YOU DO OH MY DUST I CAN’T BELIEVE I FORGOT!” Ruby nearly leapt out of her seat, but Weiss grabbed her cape.

“No, we are not going now! We’re going to unpack, and relax for today, and we will go tomorrow. First thing. I promise, alright?” Weiss’ grip on Ruby’s cape didn’t relax until she was sat back down again. She looked at the other’s very confused reactions, even for Ruby that was an extreme reaction to cookies. Weiss rolled her eyes, realising she’d have to explain it to everyone, “I promised her two boxes of handmade cookies from Mr Chip if she did well in the tests, I gave her before Solstice.”

Nearly everyone nodded, they understood Ruby’s love for cookies, and they also knew Mr Chip was the best baker in Vale. Ruby’s reaction made a lot more sense now.

“He does the best cookies in Vale by a distance, but they’re also really expensive, so she can rarely ever have them. I don’t think she’s had any since...well since before the last Vytal Festival.” Jaune’s voice cut through the silence as he whispered to Penny, the only one who hadn’t understood.

“Ohhh that makes sense to me now.” Penny nodded in agreement, earning a soft smile from Nora.

Later that afternoon the four girls were relaxing on their beds, Yang and Ruby playing on their scrolls, whilst Blake read the first Ninjas of Love, something she’d been reluctant to do with other people able to see, but by this point her whole team knew about her love for them, and didn’t judge her, so she read them openly. Weiss was also reading, but hers was a heavier tome to do with experimental Dust theory.

A loud ding echoed round the room as four scrolls went off at once. “Please report to the Headmistress’s office immediately for mission assignment.” Yang read out loud and looked to the others, receiving nods in confirmation that they’d received the same message.

“Guess relaxing the day away isn’t happening anymore.”

The four headed to the Headmistress’ office, the lift doors opening to reveal the space. Despite the destruction during the Fall of Beacon, it had been rebuilt much the same, large windows, and a clock and gears motif running throughout. The desk had changed however, and was now a piece of curved, solid wood, with a holo screen across the top, the chair looked more comfortable than the previous slat based one, but only just.

Professor Goodwitch was sat behind it, reading through information on a holo screen in front of her, which she closed once the four girls were standing in front of her desk.

“Team RWBY reporting for duty!” Ruby rapped out a quick salute, excited at having a team mission at last.

“Thank you. This mission is highly confidential and is for your team _only_. You are not to share this information with anyone else.” She looked sternly at the four of them who nodded. “You are to hunt down, and capture, a specific individual. You will liaise with a Huntsman on the ground, who has been tracking down the person for the last two weeks. This person is to be brought in alive.”

Ruby tried to resist the urge to look at the others quickly, _A bounty hunt mission? That’s a little strange_. “Err certainly. Do we know who the person is?”

Professor Goodwitch looked at the four of them, her gaze lingering on Yang slightly. “Yes, you do.” 

She tapped the desk and a familiar face popped up in a new holo screen, causing Yang to gasp slightly and tighten her fists.

“Mercury Black.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooo return of the plot! Yes, the fluff has ended for the moment and we are back into actual plot.
> 
> Thank you for waiting on this, I know the release schedule has slowed quite a bit, but I’ve had to go back to work and deal with life coming back to some strange sense of normality.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads these chapters, subscribes, bookmarks, or comments! It really does mean a lot to know people read this stuff :)


	14. Mission Details

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Team RWBY receive their first proper mission, and it's to hunt down an old enemy.
> 
> Ruby also goes to get her beloved cookies.

Start:

“Mercury.” Yang’s eyes narrowed, her voice hard. She hadn’t realised how much it rankled her how their previous fights had gone. This time would be different.

“Yes. Mercury Black.” Professor Goodwitch’s voice was also flinty, there was clearly no love lost there for the way he’d infiltrated Beacon. “Previous affiliations include Cinder Fall, missing, Emerald Sustrai, missing, and Salem, sealed. Assassin for hire. So far confirmed to be responsible for at least six high profile deaths, plus multiple guardsmen and bodyguards.” She finished reading from the file and flicked her fingers on the desk. Six headshots of prominent businessmen and lower council members replaced Mercury’s, names and positions underneath. The four girls blanched, Ruby feeing particularly disgusted, He’s barely older than we are, but he’s killed that many people? And for money? 

“He’s been operating throughout Vale and Mistral, but we believe he’s based mostly in Haven. As far as we know, he’s separated from Cinder and isn’t operating under her orders or command, as we’ve seen known members of the mafia visit him.”

Professor Goodwitch sighed. “He needs to be stopped, but we also want him alive. He may know details about Cinder’s location, or operation if she’s still operating. Even if not, he’ll know information we could use.”

She tapped some buttons on the holo desk and the four girls scrolls beeped. “I’ve sent the details of the mission to your scrolls, along with any video footage we have of his fighting style and weapon. Your airship leaves for Haven tomorrow evening, that gives you enough time to familiarise yourselves with the details.”

The girls took that as their cue to leave, Ruby having the final words, “We won’t let you down.”

Reaching the dorm room, Ruby walked to the middle of the room before spinning in place to face the others, her red cloak flicking behind her. 

“Okay team, mission prep time!” Ruby was trying her best not to be too excited at getting their first professional Huntress mission, but it definitely seeped through into her voice, if not the fact that she nearly jumped in happiness.

Weiss rolled her eyes fondly before sitting down on her bed, Blake sitting on hers, and Yang grabbing a chair from in front of the desk. She spun it round and sat backwards, resting her arms on the back of the chair. Ruby looked at them all with a wild grin, and started tapping on her scroll, bringing the mission information up on the holo screen in front of them.

“Right, so we’ve gone over those bits with Professor Goodwitch...ah! Here we go, fight videos!” Ruby brought some clips up and showed them on screen.

They spent the next hour going over the videos of Mercury fighting, and looking for weaknesses, pointing a few out, and getting a look at his weapons and what they can do. By the end of the footage Weiss was a little puzzled, and the others could see it.

“What’s eating you Ice Queen?”

With a quick glare at Yang, although lacking in any actual spite, Weiss replied, “Is it just me, or has nobody managed to spot what his semblance is? Everything we’ve just seen could be put down to either his fighting style or his weapon.”

“So either he’s never taken any of the fights seriously enough to use it, or it’s a more passive semblance that isn’t noticeable.” Blake finished Weiss’ point and they all looked at Ruby.

“Hmmm. We’ll need to keep an eye out for that, we’ll be trying to capture him, so he’ll either end up needing to take it seriously enough to use his semblance, or it’s a passive one, in which case we’ll need to be careful of what it could be.” Ruby scratched her head, her voice a little less certain than before. “There’s not much we can do in prep for an unknown semblance other than be extra cautious, there’s far too many different things it could be.”

After a moment Ruby brightened and continued, “As for things we do know about, we’ve got the location of his main hideout.” She tapped the scroll again, and a map of a section of Haven appeared on it. “He’s been hiding out in this small warehouse here. As it’s unlikely he’ll give up and just come quietly, our best bet for capture is to ambush him at the warehouse itself.” The warehouse changed colour to a darker red. “Whilst it’s slightly more dangerous, in that he may have traps, it’s got a much lower risk of damage to the city, and less chance of innocent people being hurt than if we tried to ambush him on the way.”

“And less chance of any mafia trying to help him out.” Yang and Weiss nodded at Blake’s words and Ruby smiled as Blake continued, “If we have to fight on multiple fronts, even if it’s against untrained heavies, it could distract us and cause an issue. The warehouse ambush is the better idea.”

Ruby nodded, “Me and Weiss will work on a plan for the ambush, you two focus on research about the area, what do we need to bring, our location in Haven, as well as any useful people in the city that might be helpful.” She looked around at everyone, “Okay, go team RWBY!” She jumped and pumped her fist at the end of it, and Weiss couldn’t help smiling and rolling her eyes, She may have matured, but she’s still a child at heart.

The four girls worked on their plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening, before grabbing some dinner and turning in for the night.

The next morning, Ruby woke nice and early and grinned to herself as she checked her scroll for the time. She’d got up before Weiss’ alarm. She slipped out of bed, threw her cloak around her and headed to the cafeteria.

A loud ringing broke the silence in the dorm room, Blake’s ears the first to flick in irritation as she pushed herself up onto her arms. “Weiss…Weiss…Weiss! Turn it off.”

Weiss grabbed at her scroll, nearly sending it tumbling to the floor, but she managed to trap it between the bedside table and her hand. She brought it up to her face and looked at the time.

By the time Ruby got back, Weiss was sitting on the bed, looking at the scroll with an annoyed face. “Good morning Weiss!”

Weiss looked up at Ruby with a narrow glare, clearly unamused at Ruby being so chipper that early in the morning. “Ruby Rose. Why did my scroll’s alarm go off at 6.30 this morning? I distinctly remember setting it for 8.”

Yang lifted her head from the bed and rolled on her side, still groggy from being woken up early, but not wanting to miss Ruby’s explanation. She’d seen her carefully change the alarm on Weiss’ phone whilst Weiss was in the toilet the night before but hadn’t said anything.

“Would you like some coffee?” Ruby dodged the question entirely.

Weiss closed her eyes and held her hand out. “I’ll suffer your over sugary coffee right now, but I’ll need a decent coffee later.”

Ruby passed the cup over and Weiss took a quick sip. She moved it away from her lips, looked at it, then took another sip to make sure.

Yang grinned, Buuuusted.

“Ruby.” Ruby looked up and, seeing the look on Weiss’ face, realised it as well. “If you didn’t change my alarm, then why did you get me my normal coffee order an hour and a half before my alarm was due to go off?”

“Erm…” Ruby floundered, trying to come up with an answer.

“You know what? I don’t care. I’m not awake enough to be mad at you, but you better have a good reason for why we’re up so early.”

“Well...” Ruby rubbed the back of her neck. “I think it’s a good reason.”

Weiss covered her face with her free hand and sighed heavily. “If tell me that you’ve got me up at this ungodly hour so that we can go to Mr Chip to get your cookies before we go on our first proper professional Huntress job I will not be responsible for my actions.” 

Ruby remained silent and Weiss looked at her. And kept looking at her.

“You did say that you’d...” Yang’s voice was cut off by a pillow being flung at her.

“She does not need your input you brute.” Weiss hissed at Yang before breathing out slowly. “Fine. We’ll go. But!” Weiss flicked Ruby in the forehead as her eyes grew wide and mouth spread into a massive grin. “But you owe me.” Weiss looked at Ruby with a stern glare. Ruby nodded her head furiously and Weiss stood up, her hands stretching to the ceiling. “I need a shower to finish waking me up.”

As soon as Weiss was in the shower Yang looked at Ruby appreciatively. “I have no idea how you got away with that. Props to you sis.” With that she rolled over, threw the quilt back over herself, and she was snoring within minutes.

Ruby shook her head and smiled, Yang had always been able to fall asleep quickly, but it was still pretty impressive. Blake meanwhile had sat up and pulled a book over from the shelf, deciding that if she was awake then there was no point in trying (and failing) to go back to sleep. All it would do is end up frustrating her, and leave her even more tired than she would be otherwise.

Ruby was practically skipping as she got dressed in her more casual clothes. No point getting dressed in either her combat skirt (I’m getting cookies, not slaying monsters!), or her uniform (Especially as there’s no classes today). Weiss came out the bathroom fully dressed, a light blue skirt and white bolero matching her white button up shirt, with her hair wrapped up in a towel. She sat at her desk and focused on drying her hair, trying her best to ignore Ruby’s excited and happy noises as her partner got ready. I’m supposed to be mad at her Dust damnit! How can I be mad with her when she sounds that adorable...Weiss shook her head slightly as she dried her hair, before styling it into a braid.

Ruby was almost vibrating with excitement as she waited for Weiss to finish her hair, and was nearly ready to burst by the time it was done. Weiss stood and grabbed her scroll and purse, sliding them into a shoulder bag before following Ruby out the door, the redhead’s hoody and cape flying round the corner before zipping back to Weiss’ side. Weiss couldn’t help smirking at the impatience of Ruby for cookies being at odds with her desire to be polite and walk at the same speed as her.

—————————————

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Ruby fell to her knees, her devastated cry rebounding off the surrounding buildings, a look of hurt and fear on her face. Her eyes were wide with despair and pain, her arms limp at her sides. Weiss’ face was frozen in a look of surprise at the scene in front of her: The sign “Closed temporarily due to family emergency. Will reopen tomorrow.” was stuck to the inside of the closed and locked door to Mr Chip, and all lights other than the window display and doorway were turned off.

Once the surprise passed (she had never known Mr Chip be closed), Weiss was trying very hard not to laugh. The entire ride down Ruby had been debating with herself (out loud) as to exactly what she would do regarding the cookie gift card she’d been given, the debate only punctuated by several words of ‘thanks’ keeping Weiss occupied and out of the way of Blake and Yang. So to see the plan fall apart was both disappointing for her on Ruby’s behalf, but also rather funny at the same time.

Ruby turned to look at Weiss, her face a pale shade, and her eyes red with unshed tears. Weiss immediately felt awful for thinking this was funny, Ruby was clearly utterly devastated by the fact that Mr Chip was closed on the one day she had come down, despite the fact that...no...no she didn’t feel awful actually. It was just some cookies. Looking at Ruby’s face was making her resolve at not feeling guilty for almost laughing waver.

“Come on you dolt, he’ll be here when we get back from the mission. It’s not the end of the world for Dust’s sake...” Weiss turned away, refusing to look at Ruby’s face.

Ruby got to her feet, “But...but...but what if it is!”

“What?”

“What if it’s such a big family emergency that he has to close down permanently!” Weiss blinked in surprise at Ruby’s words.

“You idiot of course it’s not that bad! Someone in his family is probably having a baby or something and it came unexpectedly.” Weiss rolled her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Oh. Yeah. That probably explains it huh?” Ruby was rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “Erm...whilst we’re in Vale anyway, do you want to go shopping or have a look around town or something? You know, some quality partner bonding time together!”

“Ruby. The only places open right now are cafes and bakeries. Nowhere will be open for at least another hour.”

“Umm...okay...” Ruby floundered as she tried to think of something they could do together. 

“Why don’t we just go grab a coffee and then head back.” Weiss sighed and put her hands on her hips waiting for Ruby’s response.

She nodded, “Alright, but I buy the coffees! It’s only fair after I dragged you out here...”

“Yes, you will.”

The two girls headed off to the nearest coffee shop and got their usual orders before walking back to the dock and to Beacon.

They arrived back at the dorm room just as Yang and Blake we’re leaving to get breakfast. Blake raised an eyebrow, “That was fast, and I also don’t see any bags with cookies in, unless you ate them all already.”

“Noooo...” Ruby’s voice had dropped again, “He was closed due to a family emergency.”

Yang gasped dramatically and put her hands to her mouth, “Oh Dust, what if he never opens again?”

Weiss smacked her on the shoulder as Ruby gasped. As she opened her mouth, Weiss cut in, “Don’t be a bitch, you know he’ll be open again.”

Yang grinned, “Course he will, I’m just messing with you.”

Blake gave Yang a slight shove to get her walking, “We’re going to get some breakfast before Yang goes any further, see you back at the dorm.” With that the two girls headed off and left Ruby and Weiss in the corridor outside the dorm. They were about to head into the dorm when the door to team JNPR’s room slammed open, making the pair of them jump.

“You’re going on a super special mission without us?!” Nora’s voice rang out and the red and white duo turned to look at the doorway, Nora standing there, arms crossed. “I’m hurt! After all we’ve been through and you four on going on a special mission!” She looked confused for a second, “Why am I getting a feeling of deja vu? Eh, doesn’t matter. When were you planning on telling us?!”

Jaune out a hand on Nora’s shoulder, “Nora, relax. This is going to happen now, and besides, we’ve got our own super special mission that they’re not part of, so now we’re even with one each.”

“Oh. Okay then, hope it goes well!” Nora was instantly placated, leaving Ruby and Weiss feeling a severe sense of whiplash. “Wait! Before you leave we gotta have another joint sparring session. Gotta warm you up before you head out there and break some legs!” She grinned massively and neither of the girls were surprised that she still had a fondness for breaking people’s legs. “Training room, 1pm, be there!” With that she skipped back into the dorm room calling for Ren.

Jaune sighed, “You don’t have to come, it was just gonna be a light sparring session for our team, but it can be a joint one if you’re alright with it.”

Ruby looked at Weiss who nodded. “Sure thing! Our ship doesn’t leave until 6, and we’ll have time to go over the mission plans at the hotel when we get there.”

“Really? Awesome!” Jaune was genuinely happy they’d agreed. “I’ll see you guys at 1 then.”

“Yup! Bye Jaune.” With that the three of them headed to their respective dorms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was originally going to be a bigger one, but it just started to get a little bit too big, and I want to give the training session a decent amount of attention, so that’ll be it’s own chapter (coming up! Whenever I finish writing it...)
> 
> Thank you to everyone who reads these chapters, subscribes, bookmarks, or comments! It really does mean a lot to know people read this stuff :)


	15. Training Fights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> JNPR and RWBY have a training spar, and then RWBY heads to Mistral for their mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long delay between chapters, had some writer’s block (this fight scene kicked my ass for about three weeks and had to be rewritten about three times) and I was also taking part in my first ever shipping week! Frosen Steel Week 2020 has 7 prompts, both AU and Non-AU and now the week is over, everything is on my list of works and it would be really great if you could check them out please!
> 
> Also, just in case anyone gets worried, this will remain a WhiteRose fic. Frosen Steel is one of my favourite ships, but this fic is a Bumblby and WhiteRose fic.

“Friend Ruby!” Penny jumped in happiness and waved at Ruby happily before greeting the other three girls with similar enthusiasm.

“Ready to get your legs broken?” Nora grinned widely and Jaune sighed.

“You’re not breaking anyone’s legs Nora, it’s a friendly spar.” Jaune covered his eyes with one hand and shook his head.

“Spoilsport...” Nora muttered under her breath, but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

“So, what’s the plan then Jaune? We’re the guests here, so it’s your show!” Ruby smiled at him and he nodded.

“It’s going to be paired up, but with some different ones. Ren and Blake, you’re team Ninja, Nora and Yang, team Powerhouse...”

“Hey! I said we should be called Pink Lemonade!” Nora pouted at Jaune.

“Yes, but it’s too long.” Jaune rolled his eyes, the argument having clearly started quite a while ago.

“Ice Flower? Flower Power? They’re not too long, but Pink Lemonade is?” Nora looked up and tapped her chin, “That’s a lot of flowers actually...anyway!” She switched to crossing her arms and staring Jaune down.

“Nora, we’ve had this discussion.” Blake and Yang looked at each other out the corner of their eyes. “Powerhouse flows better, and you two are powerhouses, so it describes you both.”

“Tch, fine, but only if Ren makes pancakes for dinner!”

They all looked at Ren who shrugged as if to say, ‘Why not?’

“Great. So it’s Ninja vs Powerhouse, no weapons or semblances. Then it’s Ice Flower vs...Penny we still need a team name for you and me...Winter Knight?” Penny tilted her head, only for Jaune to shake his, “Nah, that doesn’t fit, we can work on that later. Anyway...me and Penny versus Ruby and Weiss, weapons allowed, but no semblances or Maiden powers. I’ve also made the aura limit really high as you four have got a mission tomorrow.”

Ruby nodded to accept Jaune’s point about the mission, but Weiss raised an eyebrow, “You do realise my entire fighting style is based around my semblance, right? So, I’ll pretty much be a dead weight to Ruby and she’ll end up having to fight you two on her own.”

Jaune looked sheepish, “Okay that’s a good point. Erm. You can use your semblance to help with the fighting then, but no summons. Try and keep us all on a relatively even footing.”

Everybody nodded then split into their teams, Nora and Yang chuckling and nudging each other’s shoulders whilst Blake and Ren discussed strategy. Penny had a serious look on her face as she talked with Jaune, and Ruby and Weiss quickly spoke about the best way forward.

Ren and Blake stood opposite their opponents in a very relaxed stance, Yang shook her limbs out and grinned, “We’ll try not to beat you guys _too_ badly.”

“You’ll need to actually catch us first.” Blake deadpanned back.

Nora just smiled widely and crouched down, before charging forwards and swinging her fist towards Ren, who leaned backwards to avoid it before deftly tapping at Nora’s wrists as she swung each fist, clearly going for the knockout blow to break his aura as soon as possible. Ren’s strategy seemed to be to wear Nora down whilst dodging or deflecting all of her attacks. That’s what Yang figured anyway, so to counter that, she also dashed in, going for Ren’s legs with a sweep. She only remembered it was a two on two fight about half a second _before_ Blake’s fingers jabbed into her kidney, making her stumble and almost career into Nora. Rolling to avoid her teammate and get back to her feet she saw the recognisable smirk on Blake’s face.

“And here I thought you‘d never forget about me.”

Yang felt her heart beat even faster. _Why, just WHY, did Blake have to be so damn seductive when she’s cocky? Wait...seductive?_

“Yang! Less spacing out, more punching!” Nora’s voice had a tinge of anger to it, and Yang shook herself, seeing that Nora was starting to take a few hits from Ren in between her own punches. Yang started to fight with Blake, but just like in their previous practice, the two were evenly matched, Blake’s evasion just keeping her away from Yang, although she still managed to get quite a few hits in.

Hearing Nora grunt, she managed to put some distance between herself and Blake and flicked her eyes over to Nora, seeing her struggle against Ren. Keeping her eyes on her partner, Yang started to jog towards Ren, Blake just standing there casually, as if she wasn’t in the way.

“Nora, switch!” Yang called out, she hadn’t wanted to switch just yet, but Nora was clearly struggling against Ren early in the fight. Nora complied immediately, jumping back from Ren and swinging a fist towards Blake’s back. Yang apologised to Blake in her head until Blake spun and grabbed Nora’s fist, following the ginger girl’s momentum and almost throwing her at Yang.

Nora skidded and stood next to Yang, Ren coming up to stand next to Blake. Nora was panting a lot heavier than Ren was, and had lost a lot more aura than he had. Nora clenched her fists and Yang grimaced. Ren was clearly better at the closer combat than Nora who normally relied on her weapon to land heavy hits from a distance and at close combat with weapons, and for Ren to protect her from the more agile enemies who wanted to get in very close and personal. They worked well as a team, but individually...not so much. _Guess that’s why Jaune had split them all up, to make them better. He’s improving as a team leader. Ruby’s still better though_. Yang smirked and dashed towards Blake, before spinning away and engaging with Ren, making better headway than Nora, as she actually managed to land quite a few hits, switching between fists, and a few leg sweeps, preferring to focus on speed over the power. She just hoped Nora could hold out against Blake long enough that it could be two on one against her partner.

Nora meanwhile, was a lot more cautious against Blake, circling around her whilst the Faunus watched, legs bent slightly and ready to move. Blake stood there like she had against Yang, calm and relaxed. After a few circles and Blake just following her with her eyes, Nora grew tired of waiting for Blake to make the first move. As soon as she was behind Blake she moved in, a bit more cautiously than against Ren, but still a bit recklessly. Ducking under the swung fist she spun and used her momentum to land a punch to Nora’s side, following up with a second to the back of Nora’s head.

Nora started to stumble, but then spun full circle, a wild punch that would definitely have hurt had it connected. Blake however ducked out the way and then landed three hits to Nora’s gut and side, followed by another to the back of Nora’s shoulders, knocking her to the floor, sounding the aura limit alarm.

Nora groaned and rolled over, accepting Blake’s hand up, although she pouted as she stood up “Aww man, it’s over already?”

Blake chuckled before looking back towards Ren and Yang. Ren had landed quite a few hits on Yang, although his own aura was hovering just above the limit Jaune had set. Yang’s aura was higher, but Blake’s earlier attacks had lowered it somewhat, and Blake reckoned a couple more good hits and Yang would drop below the aura level.

Blake got her chance a few seconds after she’d helped Nora to her feet. As Yang moved forwards, Ren slammed his open palm into Yang’s shoulder, making a dent in her aura and knocking her shoulder backwards. 

What he hadn’t accounted for, was Yang using the force of his hit to spin low, using the momentum from his palm as well as her own strength to sweep his legs from under him. As he was falling, she raised up and smashed her fist into his gut, the klaxon rewarding her efforts.

This was countered almost immediately by Blake’s knee connecting with the side of her head, lowering her aura below the level and sounding the alarm once again, the klaxon ringing out as she landed heavily on her side, her vision blurred. She felt the floor vibrate slightly, and a heavily blurred Blake was by her side, kneeling next to her, gently holding her arms out and supporting Yang as she got up to a sitting position. She blinked a few times and shook her head slightly, vision returning to normal, and looked at Blake.

“Really? Couldn’t have just punched me in the kidney again?” She smiled whilst saying it, wanting to make sure no ill will was felt. 

Blake still averted her eyes though, a little embarrassed. “Sorry, just wanted to take you out quickly.”

“Well you know I’ve got no aversion to you taking me out.” Yang’s comment was followed by a wink she immediately regretted, gripping her head as a fresh bolt of pain shot through her skull.

“Yes, because flirting when you’ve just been kneed in the head is always a good idea.” Blake’s sarcastic response slipped out as she held her arm out to Yang, who gripped it and pulled herself up. She was glad that aura healed things like concussions and knocks to the head quickly like it did with scratches, otherwise she’d have been out for the mission tomorrow. With her aura unbroken it should only take a couple of hours to recover fully, even less as she was fairly certain she’d not got a concussion, just had her brain rattled around a bit.

They went and stood next to Ren and Nora as they watched the rest of the fight between Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, and Penny. Weiss was down, having been taken out before their own fight had finished, although Jaune was only a few hits from dropping himself, whilst Ruby was teetering on the edge. Penny, meanwhile, had barely been touched her aura was that high.

Jaune advanced on Ruby, who was currently defending against Penny, trying to shoot her swords out of the sky. Penny was keeping them out the way though, adjusting every time that Ruby took aim at a different sword so none of them got taken out of the air, although she seemed to be using a few less swords than normal Yang noticed, so maybe Ruby had taken some out beforehand? Either way, it wasn’t looking good for her on her own, especially two on one.

Seeming to notice this, Ruby suddenly extended her scythe, jumped up and fired in the opposite direction to Jaune and Penny, sending her flying towards Jaune low to the ground. Her boots connected with the very bottom point of his shield, she’d timed it so that as he walked forwards his shield would be furthest from the ground, giving her just enough room to shoot between his open legs, Jaune off balance from the unexpected attack. 

Spinning and jumping in the air, her scythe having shrunk back down to the smaller sniper rifle she could hold in one outstretched arm, she loosed four shots into his relatively unprotected back, each one landing, and before he could turn around to even attempt to block any of them, his aura buzzed and he was out, Penny hovering behind him and turning in mid-air to now face towards Ruby.

Ruby was just about to land when a laser blast from Penny smacked her in the chest, timed so that without her semblance Ruby didn’t stand a chance of dodging. A by now familiar klaxon sounded just as Ruby landed heavily on her backside, the blast having knocked her backwards and off balance _just_ enough for her to fall over.

She didn’t stay that way for long though, recognising it was over and she’d lost, she clambered to her feet and walked over to Penny congratulating her and immediately offering help on repairing the few swords she had managed to shoot down, just as soon as she was back from their mission. It was only on their way back to their dorms, after they’d split for showers, that Ruby allowed herself to groan and lean against Weiss, who didn’t even bother pushing her off.

The four girls, having finished their showers, grabbed a light dinner, returned to their dorm, and sat on their beds wearing pyjamas, paired off into their usual partners. Blake sat against the headboard, feet stretched out lazily behind Yang’s back as she sat at the side of the bed, whilst Weiss sat properly and Ruby next to her, both facing the other two.

“Shall we go over the plans now or when we reach Haven tomorrow?” Weiss looked at each of them in turn, starting with Ruby and returning to her after the other two gave a shrug.

Ruby groaned and leaned backwards, head lolling over the far side of Weiss’ bed, and her pyjama top riding up enough to show off her stomach. “Haven. I’m _exhausted_. Penny’s lasers _really_ hurt”

“It was definitely tiring sparring against Penny and Jaune.” Weiss nodded and, whilst not copying Ruby, she did change position to sit against her headboard, keeping her legs tucked below her, and all the time trying not to stare at Ruby’s exposed stomach. Why her eyes felt drawn to it she couldn’t say, but she kept stealing glances at it, noticing the curves of her hip bones and the bottom of her abs. Not defined like Yang’s or Sun’s (although nobody could have abs quite as defined as Sun’s, Weiss still swore he used some makeup to enhance how they looked), but still slightly visible.

Realising that whilst Ruby couldn’t see her staring, her older sister definitely would be able to, Weiss quickly looked at Yang. She needn’t have worried however, the other pair were talking amongst themselves, going over the earlier sparring session. Weiss closed her eyes and ran through all the glyphs she could use, and also recite the uses to herself in her head to distract her. Whilst going through the glyphs she realised that she hadn’t used the time dilation glyph in over two years. The dust had been a strange mutation of lightning dust that had come from a single mine in Atlas, and the dust had been mostly useless except in certain high-speed cameras, and for her family’s semblance.

After her... _disagreement_ with her father back in first year she’d not tried to get a hold of any, and had only had a single vial of it previously, but maybe now that Winter was at the head of the company, she might be able to get more. Making a note to message her sister in the morning, she leaned over to nudge Ruby gently in the side.

“What’s up Weiss?” Her partner sat up immediately and crossed her legs, facing her and giving Weiss her undivided attention.

“I’ve had an idea, but I wanted to run it by you and discuss it with you first.” 

“Oooooh that sounds interesting.” Ruby’s silver eyes lit up and Weiss felt a jolt of happiness at seeing it, “What is it?”

“Well you remember the end of the Checkmate move that Blake and I used on the Paladin back in first year? With the time dilation?”

Ruby thought for a minute then grinned as she remembered, “Yeah! You sped her up so she could slice the rockets in half, that was awesome!”

“Well, I have an idea for a move that you and I could do, using the same dust.”

“I thought you didn’t have much of the dust at all? Isn’t it like a weird mutation of lightning dust or a hybrid or something like that?”

Weiss nodded, “It is yes, and whilst I was loath to put myself at my Father’s mercy to request more, now that Winter’s at the helm...” She tailed off, giving Ruby an expectant look, which she got immediately.

“Now that your sister’s in charge, she’d probably be happy to send you some of the dust!”

“Exactly. Before I ask her though, I want to run it by you first.”

Ruby smiled, appreciating Weiss’ gesture, “I’m all ears.”

“Well, what I think we could do is...”

————————————

The four girls had been sat in the aircraft for about two hours when Ruby got up and walked forward to talk to the pilot. “Where are we dropping?”

He leaned back slightly, keeping his hands on the controls and looking forward, but tilted his head so she could hear him better, “I’ll slow down just outside the city limits but behind the mountain so you won’t be seen., You can drop into the edge of the forest there, then it should only be an hour long hike to reach the main road, then another hour or two until you reach the city. I’ll let you know when to get ready in about half an hour.”

Ruby nodded and returned to the other three, explaining it to them. Whilst Professor Goodwitch had told them they’d be dropping behind the mountain out sight, it did them all good to have timescales and estimates. Before too long the pilot leaned back and yelled out “Time to drop! You got five minutes!”

One by one the four girls dropped out the airship and landed in the forest, Ruby and Weiss angling their descents to land next to each other in the same clearing. Yang followed a few seconds after Blake, controlling her own drop to the forest to land next to her, a short distance away from the other pair and closer to the road.

“Ruby? We’ve landed. We’ll follow the plan and head to the road and travel slightly ahead of you. Meet you at the hotel.” Yang hung up her scroll and looked to Blake who was looking around, her cat ears twitching at every sound that was hidden in the trees. She had Gambol Shroud held loosely in her hands, a sign that Blake couldn’t hear any danger. “Ready?”

Blake nodded, and the two started their trek towards the road, following the animal paths and keeping the mountain on their right. The maps and holo recreations they’d studied showed the road curved around the base of the mountain, passing through two gates and outer walls before reaching Haven proper. The clearing they landed in should only be an hour or so’s walk from the road, then another two to reach the city.

Weiss and Ruby’s path was a little longer, they’d made plans to split up on the road and lessen the chances of any spies noticing them as a foursome, but spotting the clearings from the airship had made it easier to split sooner. Blake and Yang were mostly silent as they walked, Blake out front, her eyes and ears better suited to the task of keeping them on the path towards the road, Yang taking up the rear. Blake had a better chance of hearing something up ahead, and Yang could tank a surprise hit from behind better than Blake could, so it made sense.

The silence wasn’t awkward either, the two had long since grown comfortable enough with each other to just be content in the other’s presence. Sure, there had been a few weeks after Blake had joined back up with them that it had been awkward at times to just be around one another, but that time had passed. Now they were back to where they had been before, but stronger.

They reached the road and joined a train of people headed for Haven, Blake’s eyes flicking across the few guards that were escorting the small group of merchants to Haven. The guard’s eyes looked over the two women, three sizing them up if they were bandits or a threat, then returning to the forest and road having seen no threat. The last just openly leered at Yang, before turning his attention to Blake, and twisting his mouth in a grimace at her ears. Blake ignored him, and kept pace with Yang, who has struck up a conversation with one of the merchants, chatting jovially about their last trip to Haven, lying effortlessly about who they were and why they were headed to Haven.

Before long the group had reached the main entrance to the city, and the black and yellow pair split off, heading for a smaller gate and line to get in. Blake’s eyes roamed over the guards, as well as one or two people leaning and chatting with one another off to one side. They weren’t wearing the usual uniform of the guards, but both had matching bandanas wrapped around their upper forearm with a complicated looking knot. Also, despite holding a conversation with one another, they were totally focused on everyone coming in.

They made it through relatively quickly and without incident, but seeing several other Huntsman and Huntresses leaving through the gates made them feel better about their decision to enter by them. They’d have stood out if they’d arrived by airship from Vale, so they blended in more this way. As they walked towards the hotel for their stay in Haven, they went through the market, killing a small bit of time as they looked around, not having had much time when they’d been in the city before, Blake arriving with the militia from Menagerie, and Yang arriving just before the fight kicked off.

“Blake! Oh Dust, Blake you have to try this, it’s delicious!” Yang’s voice was slightly muffled from the food in her mouth.

Blake just smiled and shook her head before holding her hand out to Yang. She was grinning and swallowed before holding out a wooden stick with some balls covered in batter that she’d bought from one of the food stalls. Blake leaned down and bit one off the stick, pulling it into her mouth and felt an explosion of taste in her mouth as she closed her teeth into it and spilling the contents onto her tongue. 

Closing her eyes to try and hide how much ecstasy the food caused, she slowly chewed, savouring the different spices and textures that was filling her mouth. When she opened her eyes, she could see Yang was looking at her, mouth slightly open. Blake immediately blushed and averted her eyes, “What? It was good food...”

Yang chuckled, “Yeah, I could tell.”

Blake refused to look at her directly but smirked and rolled her eyes. She gave Yang’s shoulder a gentle shove with her own and walked off, Yang hurrying behind until she matched Blake’s pace, the pair weaving through the crowds together.

They reached the hotel and Yang stepped aside for Blake to enter first, which she did, although she waited for Yang to walk in and head up to the desk before she moved further in, deciding to hang back in case the receptionist held similar views to a decent chunk of the city. She’d mostly kept her ears flush to her head, feeling every stare, but trying to keep her head held high. Yang walking by her side, pointing things out on various stalls, drawing more of the attention to herself than to Blake, the soft smile she sent Blake’s way at various intervals confirming Blake’s suspicions that it was entirely deliberate, and she was very grateful for it. Atlas had had its fair share of racists, but they’d mostly stayed quiet and just avoided her, preferring to pretend she didn’t exist apart from the more aggressive idiots. In Haven they just openly stared at her, not even trying to hide the disgust, and she wasn’t sure what was worse. 

“Don’t bother hiding in the dark there dearie, my eyes aren’t what they used to be, but I can still see you.” The croaky voice came from a tiny woman perched on a stool behind the main desk, reading through an overly large newspaper with a magnifying glass. Blake jumped a little, she hadn’t actively tried to hide, just be less noticeable. The woman looked up as they both neared, and Blake noticed that whilst her eyes flicked over both of them, and took in her ears, they paid as much attention to her ears as the rest of her body. Despite this, she still hung back behind Yang a little, preferring to let the more outgoing member of their duo take the lead. “Don’t worry, I’m not bothered you’re a Faunus. I’m as old as time itself but I’m not _that_ backwards, especially with relationships like yours.” She smiled at Blake, who tentatively returned it.

“Yeah, Blake’s a really good friend of mine, she’s absolutely the best.” Yang’s beaming smile lit up the whole room as she said it, and Blake had to look away slightly to avoid Yang seeing her cheeks go pink. “The room is booked under the name of Falu.” They’d agreed when they booked the rooms not to use their own names, and pay with different cards, just in case the mafia were keeping an eye on new arrivals in hotels as much as they were in the gates and reporting back to Mercury with news of foreign Huntresses booking rooms. It might have been a bit of overkill to use fake names, but they could never be too careful.

The old woman gave a smile to Yang before pulling over a hefty red book and trailing through it with one finger, the other hand holding the magnifying glass up to her eye. “Falu...Falu...Falu...ah ha! Here we are. Ahhhh now, I have to apologise as at the time you booked there was a twin available. However, since then the previous occupants damaged it, so I’ve had to upgrade you both to one of our nicer double rooms, I’m so sorry for the inconvenience but I hope you two don’t mind?”

Yang looked back at Blake, not really meeting her eyes, “That...that’s okay right?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’ll be fine.” Blake nodded, trying and failing not to think about sharing a bed with Yang. It was one thing to sleep next to each other in a tent or on the floor whilst on missions, but in a bed under the same covers? There was just something that was so much more intimate about it.

The woman smiled sweetly at them again and handed over the room key to Yang. “Second floor, door at the end of the hallway.” They both nodded and smiled and were about to head up the stairs when the woman spoke again, “I’m surprised you haven’t had your ears pierced yet, I’m sure they’d look good with a couple of rings in them dear, don’t you think so young lady?”

She indicated the young lady bit was aimed at Yang, who looked at the woman, and then at Blake’s ears, “Yeah, you’re absolutely right! Your ears would look really good if they were pierced Blake.”

“Wait, Yang, you don’t...”

“I know of a few Faunus friendly piercers and jewellery shops where you two could go, why your _friend_ could even help pick you out the best pair. She seems to have excellent taste from what I’ve seen so far.” The little lady put an emphasis on the word friend that sneaked past Yang but not Blake, who’s cheeks flushed a very violent shade of red.

“You think so? Aww that’s so sweet of you to say!”

“Yang!” Blake grabbed at her arm and started to drag her towards the stairs.

“I’ll send a few leaflets up I keep on hand with some tea later, let you two talk it over.” The woman called up after them as Blake pulled Yang very strongly towards the room, not stopping until they were inside. Yang, who had been mightily confused from the moment Blake had started pulling her, just went with the flow until they got in the room. It was silent for a few minutes, Blake refusing to look at her or say anything before Yang decided to confront the elephant in the room.

“What’s wrong Blake?”

She was silent for a moment, trying to figure out the best words and way to explain it in her head before she opened her mouth. “You know you were saying that you think I’d look really good with my ears pierced? Which ears? These ones?” She pointed at her human ears under her hair, “Or these?” She waggled the tips of her cat ears a little, deciding to be cautious and hope that Yang had been on about her human ears.

“Well, I think you’d look great whichever ears you pierce, but I think she meant your cat ears so that’s what I meant too. Why? Did I say something offensive? I’m really sorry if I did, I didn’t...”

“No! No. You didn’t. Umm...” Blake looked away and blushed.

“Blake?”

“You sort of almost...well you...urgh!” Blake knocked her head against the door slightly and Yang just looked bewildered.

“What is it?”

“You just said I’d look really good married to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And on that bombshell!
> 
> I'll explain it all in the next chapter don't worry! Just thought this idea would be really funny. 
> 
> Also, points to anyone who comes up with a decent ship name for Penny and Jaune (I'm not going to ship them, but I literally couldn't find a single name).
> 
> As usual, thank you to anyone who reads this, sticks with it despite the haphazard update schedule, kudos, bookmarks, or subscribes. It means a lot that anyone even reads the thing, so thank you so much for that!


	16. Earring Significance and Contact Information

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blake explains the significance of earrings among Faunus, and the four girls meet their contact.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while since this was updated! I've been struggling with mental health recently and it's taken a toll on my inspiration and motivation, but I'm back at it and powering through!

“Wait what?!” Yang’s voice is full of surprise and she can barely get the words out before coughing, a furious blush streaking out from her cheeks. “What did you just say?”

“I said that the lady down there thinks that we would look good married.” _And you agreed with her. But I can’t say that. I can’t know your reaction to that._ Blake cuts her sentence off before she voices what has been sprinting through her head, equal parts terrifying nightmare and equal parts joyous fantasy. _What if Yang’s reaction to her agreeing that we’d look good married is awful? …And what if it’s **not**_? She breathed out heavily. “I’ll need to explain this, and it might take a while.”

She looked at Yang who nodded, so she started. “First of all, this is more of a sweeping generalisation rather than something specific to every Faunus, but in Faunus culture there are several ways to indicate that you aren’t single, and are either engaged, or married. As there are so many different types of Faunus, there isn’t a single overriding way of showing that, but the most common is a set of gold earrings, specifically in the animal trait ears.”

Yang nodded as the information sunk in, Blake had never gone in depth before with all the various aspects of Faunus culture, and Yang had never wanted to press too hard for fear of overstepping or insulting by accident. She’d asked questions here and there, but mostly let Blake reveal things at her own pace.

“My mum has three golden studs in her cat ears, two in her right ear, one in her left.” Blake waved her hand, “There’s quite a bit of history and a few theories as to why it’s done like that, but it gets tedious and more than a little anti-human, so I’ll skip most of it. The prevailing theory is that when we were still used as…” Blake’s face took on a venomous look quickly and she almost spat the next word out “ _slaves_ , the humans who owned the slaves would put metal rings or clips onto a Faunus’ ear if they had been marked for breeding. Then, if the couple had a child, another ring or clip was added to show that they were compatible.” Blake took a moment to breathe, forcing her face back into a more neutral look. Yang however, didn’t.

“That’s disgusting. Just completely fucking disgusting.” Her stomach had twisted angrily, her fists balled up in rage, and she’d almost felt her anger set her semblance off. _How **dare** humans do that? How dare they treat Faunus as little more than cattle?_

Blake gave her a soft smile, appreciating the words and the clear signs of anger from Yang at the treatment of Faunus in the past. Even though she’d never met them and wasn’t related to them, Yang still got angry over their suffering. _If only everyone was like that._

“When the Faunus civil rights movement started to get traction, and the slavery was abolished, Faunus who had those clips or rings weren’t able to take the wounds away, so they started trying to make it a part of them. To absorb it and move above it. An unnamed Faunus crafted a set of golden rings for their partner and swapped the dull metal ones out.”

Blake was still smiling softly, she’d always liked that bit, the romance of crafting rings for the person’s love, taking a symbol of oppression and making it their own. Choosing to take control of their own bodies again. “The idea was a little slow to take off, some people thought it wasn’t much better than the metal clips from slavers, but the couple explained and convinced enough people that it did. Nowadays, it’s done with two rings, one as a promise ring for marriage, and one when they get married. In line with the tradition…” Blake gulped and looked away, “The partner is the one that buys the two golden rings or golden studs and presents them when they agree to marry each other.”

Yang’s anger had cooled off quickly but was replaced with embarrassment. “So, when I...so when the lady said she knew a couple of good Faunus friendly jewellers she was talking about…” Yang made small circle motions with a finger above her head, roughly where an extra set of ears would have been on her.

“Yes.”

“And when she suggested that I pick them…”

“ _Yes.”_

“Oh.”

“Yes.”

“Umm…” The pair were silent, both too embarrassed to talk or say anything. That was until Yang, searching for something to say, anything to change the subject, noticed something missing from their room.

Something that really didn’t help the situation.

“Oh, you have _got_ to be joking.”

Blake looked at her, “Hmm?”

“This is something straight out of one of your trashy romance books.” Yang indicated the lone double bed in the room.

“They’re high-class literature! And you shouldn’t be reading them!” Blake flushed and then looked around and, seeing nothing that would provide a second bed, either sofa or otherwise, sighed. “She said they didn’t have any other rooms available either.”

Yang put the thought about how they’d figure out the sleeping arrangements to one side and chuckled nervously, “Well if she’s doing this to us, then maybe she’ll do the same thing to Ruby and Weiss?”

They looked at each other, a smirk slowly forming on Blake’s face before they both burst out laughing.

Yang was cackling at the thought, almost bent double with laughter, “I wish I could see the look on Weiss’ face when she figures it out!”

—————————

Meanwhile, just as Blake and Yang were laughing about the little old lady trying to put Ruby and Weiss together, the red and white duo were arriving at the inn.

“This should be it, right Weiss?” Ruby looked at the sign for the inn, ‘ _Koiji Inn’_ then back to her partner.

“Yes, this should be it. I hope it’s better on the inside than the outside.” Weiss looked at the outside with a slight hint of distaste.

“Weeeeiisssss…” Ruby looked at her partner and pouted a little.

“What? I was trying to be polite. I didn’t _actively_ say what I thought the outside looked like.” Ruby just gave Weiss a stare, and within a moment she’d relented. “Fine. There’re far worse places, and it’s much better than sleeping in the forest or on the ground. I reserve judgement on the rest until we get inside.”

Ruby sighed, “Come on meanie.”

The pair went inside and found a little old lady behind the desk. “Hello! We’ve booked a room under the name of Neige?”

The lady looked up at Ruby’s cheerful tone and smiled. What Ruby and Weiss both missed, just like Blake and Yang had, was the glint and twinkle in her eye. “Welcome to the Koiji Inn! Ah yes, I can see there’s a booking under the name of Neige.” The lady bustled around behind the desk for a moment before looking back at the pair, “Are you two partners by any chance?”

Ruby smiled warmly back, “Yep! We are.”

“Oh, that’s fantastic, how long have you been partners?”

“It must have been about two years now, right Weiss?” Ruby turned slightly to look at Weiss who nodded in return.

“Yes, it’s been two years and a few months.”

“You look very good together and your outfits complement each other too. You must work well as a pair.”

Ruby grinned, “Thank you! And yes, we do, because we’re BFFs!” Weiss rolled her eyes but didn’t argue, a small smirk on her face.

The old lady’s face fell slightly as she straightened up from looking at the book, and if either Ruby or Weiss had been better at reading people, they’d have seen how fake it was. “I’m so terribly sorry, but there’s been an unfortunate mix up with double booking, so the room you originally booked isn’t available. What I can do is upgrade your room to a better rate one? Free of charge of course for the inconvenience?” Weiss sighed but nodded and Ruby thanked her. The lady smiled very warmly at them both and handed a key over, “It’s on the first floor, door at the end of the hall. Thank you both so much for being _so_ understanding.” 

Ruby pulled her scroll out to message Yang and Blake and then scurried to catch up to Weiss who was waiting outside the door. They unlocked the door and headed inside, Ruby flitting to have a look in the bathroom then going back to the doorway where Weiss was standing with a strange look in her face. “What’s up Weiss?”

“Did you see another bed in there Ruby?”

“What? Pfft no, don’t be silly Weiss! It’s a bathroom, why would there be a bed in there?” Ruby chuckled at Weiss who just nodded slowly.

“Well, that means there’s only one bed in the room, which means we have to share.”

“I knew it would happen to them too!” Yang was chuckling and Blake had a smirk on her face as they stood in the doorway.

Weiss turned around to face the pair, “What do you mean ‘happen to them too’?”

Blake chuckled, “The lady down there swapped our room out for one with one bed, we thought it might have happened to you too.”

Ruby shrugged, “It’s no big deal, we’ll just share. It’s not much different to sleeping next to each other in a tent, just comfier!” She smiled at Weiss who sighed and lowered her head slightly.

“I guess I can’t argue with that.” Weiss continued to stare at the bed before a quiet beeping started coming from one of Ruby’s pouches.

“It’s about time we headed down to meet up with our contact.” Ruby pulled her scroll out the pouch and swiped over to find the photo provided by Professor Goodwitch. The four of them stared at it whilst Ruby continued talking. “We’ll go as before; Blake and Yang will enter first and sit down a few tables away but near enough that you can overhear everything Blake. Then Weiss and I will approach him and get the information. We’ll all meet back here in our room to discuss what to do further. Everyone happy?”

The other three all nodded, and they split up and headed out. They sat down at two tables, keeping to their respective pairings, Ruby sitting next to Weiss and opposite the man Professor Goodwitch had indicated was their contact.

“Hi! Is this seat taken?”

The man looked up at Ruby’s enthusiasm and raised a single eyebrow, a golden piercing through the middle. “Do you have to?”

“Yep! We love meeting new people, they’ve always got interesting things to say.”

Weiss rolled her eyes and sat down next to Ruby, staring daggers around the room as if anyone trying to listen would give themselves up at seeing her glare. Blake hid a smile at a table nearby, her ears, despite being in a bow again, easily able to hear everything that would be said. Yang meanwhile sat down with two drinks and whistled whilst playing a game on her scroll.

“Please tell me you’re not who I think you are? Seriously? You two can’t be more than twelve.”

“It depends on what your name is. If you’re who we think you are, then yes, it’s us. If not, then we’ll leave you be and you can go back to doing...whatever it was you were doing before.” Weiss’ voice was a little testy at the man’s tone, and Ruby recognised a fairly obvious hint that Weiss’ patience, already a little low from dealing with their host earlier, had reached its limit.

“Please, we’ve been told that someone who looks just like you would be meeting us here, at this time. So…?” Ruby was more conciliatory of the two and Blake smiled, her bow twitching ever so slightly.

“What’s happening?” Blake looked up at Yang, who to most people was still engrossed in her scroll, but Blake could see she was working on automatic, eyes flicking around too far from the screen to be focused.

“Weiss decided to play good cop and heavily pissed off cop with no patience. Guess who’s who?” Blake smirked and tuned back into the conversation happening a few tables over.

“Name’s Tartan McDravin. That who you’re looking for? Cos if not, get lost.”

Ruby smiled and Weiss tried to hide her annoyance, not quite failing spectacularly, but still failing pretty badly. “Great! That’s who we’re looking for. I’m Ruby and this is Weiss. What can you tell us?” 

“The grey-haired git you’re after has a warehouse to himself just downtown, edge of the shipping district. Near enough for things to fall off ships. Mostly heavy things. Far enough away that nobody would be heard yelling for help.” He shrugged, his leather jacket rising and falling with his shoulders, revealing a pair of holsters strapped just above his hips. “Not that they’d get any if they did try.”

Ruby shot Weiss a glance out the corner of her eye, but Weiss was just staring at their contact, almost as if she was bored, or just a little bit annoyed. “Can you tell us more about the warehouse?”

“Two ways in, two ways out. Main doors and a side door. It’s number seventeen. That’s about it. People don’t tend to go there willingly.”

“How _do_ people get in touch with him?” Weiss’ stare intensified a little.

“Most of the people who want his services work for the Families, all of who have a way to contact him. Anyone else? They ask around the bars in the shipping district and hope they don’t end up face down in a puddle. That’s all I know.” With the last words he got up and left, and Blake could hear him muttering about “Fucking kids...better send proper Huntsmen when these ones die.”

“Well he was delightful.” Weiss looked at Ruby when she said nothing and raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Normally you’d be telling me to be more polite, or to keep my voice down.” Weiss continued to stare at Ruby who chuckled.

“I guess. But he _was_ a dick.”

Weiss’ jaw dropped, and a smirk spread across her mouth, “Ruby Rose!” She hissed Ruby’s name before continuing at a more normal volume, “I can’t believe you just said that! Wherever did you learn such language?”

Ruby laughed, “Oh shush! We both know you’ve said worse!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not overly happy with this chapter, but I don't think I can make it much better. It's gone through two rewrites, but this version is the best of the three. Hopefully, now that we're getting closer to the main meat of the mission, things will go a bit quicker!
> 
> Also, (SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION TIME) I've got a couple of other fics that are currently being written too! There's a Frosen Fantasy Tale, which is a Weiss, Ruby, and Penny trio fic set in a fantasy world where Penny and Weiss are bodyguards to Princess Ruby to protect her from assassins and those seeking to bring down the Vale monarchy.
> 
> There's These are the High School Days of our Lives, a modern high school AU with Faunus but no powers where the main girls (and others) are at high school trying to navigate that fun world.
> 
> There's also Tattoos and Flowers, where Ruby Rose runs a flower shop that's next door to a tattoo parlour run by one Weiss Schnee.
> 
> Finally there's my newest work, The Cabins! It's a modern dating AU (no Faunus) where two hopefuls spend 24 hours alone in a beautiful log cabin in the hopes of finding love. The first pair to enter the cabins are Weiss Schnee and Ilia Amitola.
> 
> And self-promotion is done.
> 
> As always, thank you so much to everyone who has commented, bookmarked, subscribed, or even just read it, it always means so much that people read and enjoy my writing. Hopefully the next chapter won't be such a wait!


End file.
